The Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, is hosting a rather remarkable exhibit, "Creating St. Peter's: Architectural Treasures of the Vatican," which runs through September 6, 2004. St. Peter's Basilica, for centuries a fixture on Vatican Hill, is first and foremost a church and shrine. It is also, however, a remarkable work of architecture and art, an engineering marvel, a monument to history, and a place visited each year by millions of people of all faiths from around the world.
The exhibit at the Knights of Columbus Museum takes visitors behind the scenes as the church was physically transformed during the 16th century to its present splendor and size. Today, it is the largest church in the world, and its dome, designed by Michelangelo, is the largest dome in the world. Though the exhibit can't quite rival a visit to the real St. Peter's, for anyone who lives in or is visiting New England, getting to the museum is much more convenient and economical than jetting off to Italy. Admission and parking are both free, and the museum is conveniently located just off Interstates 95 and 91 in Connecticut.
Visitors may not get to behold the finished Renaissance-era masterpiece that is St. Peter's, but they will have the opportunity to see more than 100 artifacts and works of art that are rarely on public view, including many which have never before traveled to America. Click the dome photo above to see additional images from the exhibition. Among the items that tell the story of the construction of St. Peter's are scale models, dioramas, a large wall mural timeline, historical drawings and architects' notes, paintings and even the large iron drawing compass believed to have been used by Michelangelo. All of the items are on loan from the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office responsible for maintaining and preserving St. Peter's.
The exhibit's main attraction is Michelangelo's handcarved study model for the brick and stone dome of St. Peter's. In 1546, at the age of 72, Michelangelo was asked to assume the role of chief architect on the St. Peter's project--a 176-year endeavor that saw many design alterations as papal and creative leadership on the project changed. Though Michelangelo is known to have constructed several models of the dome, this 16-foot study dating to 1558-1561, is the only one that survives.
Visitors to the museum will be able to trace the history of the site and its structures, from the original Nero's Circus where St. Peter was crucified and martyred, to the first St. Peter's Basilica built starting in 313 to mark the nearby location of St. Peter's gravesite, to the remodeled, domed cathedral that was built even as services were regularly held within the landmark church. One area of the exhibition focuses on the rather involved process by which the obelisk that now stands in St. Peter's Square was relocated from the ancient Nero's Circus to its current location. The Egyptian stone obelisk, the only surviving "witness" to the massacre of St. Peter, is 98 feet tall and weighs 327 tons, and it required an estimated 100 horses and 900 men, their efforts coordinated by the beating of drums and the blare of trumpets, to move the massive structure using 40 winches, a model of which is also on display.
The Knights of Columbus, founded at St. Mary's Church in New Haven in 1881, is the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world with 1.7 million members. Larry Sowinski, director of the organization's museum in New Haven, explained that this rare exhibition of items from the Vatican's collection is largely the result of the Knights' fundraising efforts on behalf of restoration projects at St. Peter's in Rome.
Though the St. Peter's exhibit has a limited run, the Knights of Columbus Museum is open free year-round and offers changing exhibits in three galleries, plus a theater, which shows the 90-minute National Geographic film, "Inside the Vatican."
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