St Peter's Square: The Obelisk and the Water on the Ropes
Why is it significant?
Walk to the centre of the square and stand at the foot of the obelisk, a plain shaft of red granite without a single hieroglyph, rising about forty metres to the cross on its tip, base included.
Key Facts
| Place | St Peter's Square: The Obelisk and the Water on the Ropes |
|---|---|
| Address | Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.90220, 12.45730 |
| Part of Walk | Pilgrims, Popes and Swiss Guards: Rome's Vatican and the Medieval Borgo |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk to the centre of the square and stand at the foot of the obelisk, a plain shaft of red granite without a single hieroglyph, rising about forty metres to the cross on its tip, base included. Around you, Bernini's colonnade opens its arms, two great curves of columns four deep, like a church embracing the world.
This obelisk came from Egypt under the emperor Caligula, who set it up in his circus on the Vatican hill, just south of where you stand. Christian tradition holds that Peter was martyred in that circus, within sight of this very stone. It is the only obelisk in Rome that never fell: while all the others toppled and vanished under the rubble, this one stood for fifteen centuries beside the old basilica.
In 1586 Pope Sixtus the Fifth ordered it moved to the centre of the new square. His engineer, Domenico Fontana, mobilised some nine hundred men, about a hundred and forty horses and dozens of winches. Legend says the crowd was ordered to keep absolute silence, on pain of death, so the workers could hear the signals. At the critical moment the ropes began to stretch and smoke... and a sailor named Bresca shouted: Acqua alle funi! Water on the ropes! They were soaked, they held, and instead of punishment his family won the privilege of supplying the palms for Palm Sunday.
Now find one of the two round stone discs set into the paving between the obelisk and each fountain. Stand on it and look at the nearest colonnade. The four rows of columns line up so precisely behind each other that they melt into a single row. Bernini built the colonnade between 1656 and 1667 and crowned it with a hundred and forty statues of saints, who watch over the crowds below.
At Easter and Christmas this square fills with tens of thousands of people waiting for a few words from a balcony. Now walk straight ahead, up the gentle slope, towards the facade of one of the largest churches on earth.