The new church was started around 1450, and was originally planned to be ten times larger than the present-day St. Peter's, which would have been grotesque. Plans eventually got scaled down to more realistic proportions, and Bramante took charge of the first stage of planning. When he died the famous painter Raphael took over, to be succeeded by the even more famous painter Michelangelo, and on and on it went, over two hundred years. With the intense involvement of dozens of popes and architects, the building was bound to be a mess, which it is, but the sheer size and no expense spared approach to decorating at least provide a dazzling sensory overload. The overall effect is similar to Grand Central Station, with lots of crosses and Virgin Mary's.



The most interesting part of the church is actually below it, where the supposed remains of Peter lie, and, more interestingly, a recently discovered burial area for Rome's pagans. It's apparently appropriately spooky, and vast, extending in all directions for an as yet to be determined distance. It sounded really cool, but unfortunately you need to plan many months ahead to score a ticket, which we didn't do.