It was in 1300 that Pope Boniface VIII, institutionalising the age-old tradition of pilgrimages to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, declared the first Christian Jubilee in history. The Jubilee pardon was granted to pilgrims who travelled to Rome, to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, after confession and taking communion. The Holy Year was supposed to be repeated every 100 years, but in 1343 Pope Clement VI declared that plenary indulgence could be granted every 50 years and that in addition to St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Basilicas, there would be a visit to the Basilica of St. John in the Lateran. Starting from the next Jubilee, Pope Urban VI decided that the Basilica of St. Mary Major would also become a jubilee church, while it was Pope Paul II in 1470 who definitively set the interval period to 25 years. All 4 Basilicas institutionalised, starting from 1499, the Opening of Porta Santa ceremony.
The voices of four of the biggest experts in history of art: Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, architect Paolo Portoghesi, art historian Claudio Strinati, and Micol Forti, the director of the contemporary art collection at the Vatican Museums, guide us through the four Papal Basilicas of Rome, talking us through the history behind them and the achievements of those who commissioned, built and decorated them.
Through the cameras we enter the churches, lingering on details and admiring the ceiling and domes, exploring their apses and chapels. We’re blown away, left bewildered like anyone, travellers or pilgrims, or writers like Stendhal in “Walks in Rome” (1783-1842) seeing such magnificence for the first time.
It was in 1300 that Pope Boniface VIII, institutionalising the age-old tradition of pilgrimages to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, declared the first Christian Jubilee in history. The Jubilee pardon was granted to pilgrims who travelled to Rome, to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, after confession and taking communion. The Holy Year was supposed to be repeated every 100 years, but in 1343 Pope Clement VI declared that plenary indulgence could be granted every 50 years and that in addition to St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Basilicas, there would be a visit to the Basilica of St. John in the Lateran. Starting from the next Jubilee, Pope Urban VI decided that the Basilica of St. Mary Major would also become a jubilee church, while it was Pope Paul II in 1470 who definitively set the interval period to 25 years. All 4 Basilicas institutionalised, starting from 1499, the Opening of Porta Santa ceremony.
The voices of four of the biggest experts in history of art: Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, architect Paolo Portoghesi, art historian Claudio Strinati, and Micol Forti, the director of the contemporary art collection at the Vatican Museums, guide us through the four Papal Basilicas of Rome, talking us through the history behind them and the achievements of those who commissioned, built and decorated them.
Through the cameras we enter the churches, lingering on details and admiring the ceiling and domes, exploring their apses and chapels. We’re blown away, left bewildered like anyone, travellers or pilgrims, or writers like Stendhal in “Walks in Rome” (1783-1842) seeing such magnificence for the first time.