During the second half of February, the Vatican will begin the restoration of the so-called “Baldachin” of St. Peter’s Basilica, a 400-year-old gold-plated structure made of bronze, wood and iron, weighing 63 tons, and located on the roof of the church. The high altar, on which is considered the tomb of the first Pope, will continue for ten months at a cost of 700,000 euros, and it is hoped that it will be completed at the beginning of the Jubilee dedicated to hope, called for the year 2025.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, responsible for the restoration work, explained: “This restoration is of symbolic value because the baldashine, which rises majestically above the main altar, marks with its splendor the location of the tomb of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Vatican Cathedral was dedicated.” Basilica.
The work, which will be carried out while the church is open for all Pope Francis' ceremonies, and which will seek to disturb the nearly 50,000 daily visitors to the world's largest church as little as possible, will be part of the first restoration in 250 years of which it is also the only collaborative work by the Heroes of the Boca River in Sculpture and architecture in Rome in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini.
“Baldachino is derived from Baldác, the old name of Bagdad, where the most expensive fabrics come from. In the Vatican Cathedral, the four columns supporting these textile roofs have been replaced with giant twisted bronze columns, a clear reference to the columns found around Peter's tomb in the ancient church,” Gambetti explained.
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