aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

ITALY. 387
And yet recent excavations reveal pavements, marble statues,
and finely finished granite columns, thirty feet below the
level of the arena. Evidently there was a previous building
of massive dimensions on this site, the constructors of which
were pre-historic.
ST.
Peter's and the beggars.
The first sight of this most gorgeous of earthly temples
strikes the traveler with a sense of unspeakable grandeur.
This increases with each succeeding visit, till you stand
under the firmament of marble, and cast your eye along the
richly-ornamented nave, along the statue-lined transepts,
and up into that circling vault, — that wondrous dome, supported
by four piers, each 284 feet in periphery, and then
you feast upon the fullness of its magnificence. The building
stands on a slight acclivity in the north-western corner
of the city. It is built in the form of a Latin cross, the
nave being in length 607 feet, and the transept 444 feet.
The east front is 395 feet wide, and 160 feet high ; whilst the
pillars composing it are each 88 feet high, and 8i in diameter.
The hight of the dome, from the pavement to the top
of the cross, is 448 feet. In front of the church there is a
large piazza. The church occupies the place of Nero's circus,
and is erected on the spot where St. Peter was martyred.
It occupied a period of one hundred and seventy-six years
in building, and required three hundred and sixty years to
perfect it. It cost ten million pounds ; it covers eight
English acres ; and is kept in repair at a cost of six thousand
three hundred pounds per annum.
Raphael's " Transfiguration " is in the Vatican. The great
master put his soul into this production. It was his last
work; and, while executing it, he seems to have been conscious
o6 standing upon the very verge of the summer-land.
He died before finishing it, at the early age of thirty-seven
years.
After the departure of this great master-painter, the
" Transfiguration " was suspended over his corpse. He now
ranks a star in the art-galleries of heaven.