Vatican City

A State Inside a City

Vatican City became an independent state with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, signed between the Holy See and Italy. Its walls enclose the basilica, the papal palaces, gardens and the Vatican Museums, whose rooms end at the Sistine Chapel. The whole state is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Basilica and Its Square

One camera frames the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, designed by Michelangelo and rising about 136 metres above the rooftops of Rome; it crowns one of the largest churches in the world. The other looks over St. Peter's Square, embraced by the curving colonnades that Bernini built in the 17th century around an ancient Egyptian obelisk.

When the Square Fills

Every Sunday at noon the Pope leads a prayer from a window above the square, and on Wednesdays the general audience gathers pilgrims from around the world. Great feasts, canonisations and the Easter and Christmas blessings bring the largest crowds, which the cameras show filling the square up to the colonnades.