Worldwide

St. Peter's basilica - Tomb Pope Clement XIII

Building: The baroque St. Peter's basilica is the most prominent and most well-known church inside Vatican city. The basilica stands on the same spot where since the 4th century a church has always stood. The current basilica was built between 1506 and 1626. It covers an area of 2.3 ha and is inhabited by 60,000 people. According to the Catholic Church it is the burial place of Petrus and his tomb is situated under the canopy and altar of the basilica. This is however based on a tradition rather than fact. The Bible does not mention either the presence or martyrdom of Peter in Rome. This belief is however the reason why a lot of popes are buried inside this basilica.

Voorwerp: The tomb of Pope Clement XIII (1693-1769) was built by Antonio Canova, who constructed it between 1783 and 1792. The Pope is pictured kneeling down. On the right hand side is the 'Angel of Death'. The figure on the left hand side represents ‘Religion’, dressed in Israelite clothes. On the belt and the head band there is Hebrew text. On the belt is written: "doctrine and truth''. On the head band is written: "JHWH is Holy". 'JHWH' is also known as the Tetragrammaton, the old-Hebrew word for God's name.

 

Band of images

Click on the photo

 

 

 

- top -