St Peter's Square

A photograph of St Peter's Basilica and square in the Vatican City, showing the right side of the colonnade and the Court of St Damaso, where the Logge frescoed by Raphael's workshop are. In the left foreground, a small house – part of the so-called Spina (the median with houses and various buildings which divided the two streets of Borgo Nuovo and Borgo Vecchio) – is visible. The Spina was destroyed by Benito Mussolini between 1936 and 1937 in order to open the long avenue of Via della Conciliazione and therefore link the Tiber (and the rest of the non-religious city) with the square and the Basilica. Annotated on the verso.

This photograph is related to one in an album compiled by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), during his Roman trip in 1859 (see RCIN 2863988 for it). This album is attributed to the Roman photographer Tommaso Cuccioni on the basis of his blind stamp found on four photographs of the album.

Raphael was appointed architect director of the St Peter's workshop in 1514, following the death of Bramante, who had been in charge of the architectural plans c.1505-1506, together with Giuliano da Sangallo and later Fra Giocondo, a renowned theorist at the time. Baldassarre Peruzzi was also involved with the workshop, possibly from the time of Bramante as an assistant, but certainly as the chief architect together with Antonio da Sangallo, after the death of Raphael (see Bibliographic References). In 1546 Michelangelo became the architect and also designed a new dome, the construction of which continued for some decades after Michelangelo's death in 1564. The Basilica - completed with the project led by Carlo Maderno, chief architect from 1603 - was finally consecrated in 1626. Bernini worked on the square and the colonnade later in the seventeen century.