A Guide to
​St Peter's Basilica

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The Tribune

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The tribune, the bay beyond the crossing, is very similar in design to the two arms of the transept. The walls and ceiling vault are similarly decorated. One immediate difference is that the floor is slightly higher than that of the rest of the basilica, and is accessed by means of two steps, which are made of porphyry slabs from the old basilica. 

The vaulting was embellished by Luigi Vanvitelli, who inserted the panels in the semi-dome, which depict The Granting of the Keys to St Peter, The Crucifixion of St Peter and The Beheading of St Paul.

The focal point of the tribune is the theatrical shrine for the relic known as the Cathedra Petri (Chair of Peter), the work of Bernini. It is flanked by two funerary monuments; to Pope Paul III on the left and to Pope Urban VIII on the right.  

The inscription in the frieze proclaims: PASTOR ECCLESSIAE TV OMNES CHRISTI PASCIS AGNOS ET OVES (O shepherd of the Church, thou feedest all the lambs and sheep of Christ). The text, which is repeated in Greek on the right, is adapted from he Gospel of St John (21: 15-17). 

Prophet Elijah by Agostino Cornacchini

The eight statues in the niches depict saints who founded religious orders or institutes. Starting on the right and moving anti-clockwise (lower then upper): 

Prophet Elijah, Carmelites (Agostino Cornacchini, 1727).
St Francis de Sales, Visitationists (Adamo Tadolini, 1845).

St Dominic, Dominicans (Pierre Le Gros the Younger, 1706).
St Francis Caracciolo, Minor Clerks Regular (Alessandro Massimiliano Labourer, 1834).

St Francis of Assisi, Franciscans (Carlo Monaldi, 1727).
St Alphonsus de Liguori, Redemptorists (Pietro Tenerani, 1839).

St Benedict, Benedictines (Antonio Montauti, 1735). 
St Frances of Rome (Pietro Galli, 1850). 

St Dominic by Pierre Le Gros the Younger

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