Photos

This immense sculptural monument was created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1659) to highlight the wooden throne of St. Peter. They're kind of hard to see in the photo, but the four enormous statues are St. Ambrose, St. Anthanasius, St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine. The alabaster window depicts the Holy Spirit descending in the shape of a dove. The apse is at the very end of the central nave. Each year on Feb. 22nd, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter is celebrated to commemorate his teaching in Rome. The ancient chair inlaid with ivory was being venerated; it's supposedly the Episcopal chair on which Peter sat as he instructed Roman Christians. It's actually a throne in which fragments of acacia wood are visible, but it's encased in oak and reinforced with iron bands. Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini to build the monument to commemorate it.

The base of the altar is made from black and white Aquitaine marble and red Jasper from Sicily, seen at the very bottom of the photo. Above the chair are two angels bearing a tiara and keys, symbols of the Roman pontiff's authority. The panels depict three episodes: The Consignment of the keys; Feed my Sheep and the Washing of the Feet.