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Vatican City

Vatican City

The Vatican City, one of the most sacred places in Christendom, attests to a great history and a formidable spiritual venture. A unique collection of artistic and architectural masterpieces lie within the boundaries of this small state. At its centre is St Peter's Basilica, with its double colonnade and a circular piazza in front and bordered by palaces and gardens. The basilica, erected over the tomb of St Peter the Apostle, is the largest religious building in the world, the fruit of the combined genius of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini and Maderno.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Cité du Vatican

Haut lieu du monde chrétien, la Cité du Vatican témoigne d'une grande histoire et d'une prodigieuse aventure spirituelle. Dans les limites de ce minuscule État, on peut admirer une concentration unique de chefs-d'œuvre de l'art. Avec la place circulaire à double colonnade qui la précède, avec les palais et les jardins qui l'entourent, la basilique, élevée sur les lieux du martyre de l'apôtre Pierre, en constitue le centre. C'est le plus grand édifice religieux du monde, fruit des génies conjugués de Bramante, Raphaël, Michel-Ange, Bernin et Maderno.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

حاضرة الفاتيكان

تشكل حاضرة الفاتيكان محجة العالم المسيحي وتشهد على تاريخ عظيم ومغامرة روحية هامة. ويمكن التمتع في تخوم هذه الدولة الصغيرة تمركزاً فريداً للتحف الفنية. وتحتل البازيليك المرتفعة في موقع الرسول الشهيد القديس بطرس قلب المدينة الى جانب الساحة المستديرة المحاطة بصفين من العواميد والقصور والحدائق المحيطة بها. وتعتبر البازيليك أضخم بناء ديني في العالم وهي ثمرة ابداعات برامانت ورافاييل ومايكل أنجلو وبيرنيني وماديرنو مجتمعة.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

梵蒂冈城

梵蒂冈城是基督教世界最神圣的地方之一,证明了过去辉煌的历史以及基督教神圣精神的发展进程。这个小国境内云集了大量艺术和建筑杰作。城中心坐落着圣彼得基督教堂,教堂正面是两条柱廊和圆形广场,有宫殿和花园环绕。这座矗立在使徒圣彼得陵墓上的长方形基督教堂,容取了布拉曼特、拉斐尔、米开朗基罗、贝尔尼尼和马德尔纳等大师的天才智慧,是世界上最大的宗教建筑。

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Ватикан – район Рима

Город-государство Ватикан, одно из самых священных мест христианского мира, имеет богатую историю и огромное духовное значение. В пределах этого крошечного государства находится уникальное собрание шедевров искусства и архитектуры. В центре Ватикана расположен собор Св. Петра с двойной колоннадой, круглой площадью перед ним и прилегающими дворцами и садами. Базилика, возведенная над гробницей Св. Петра Апостола, является крупнейшим религиозным зданием в мире. Это - результат соединения творческого гения Браманте, Рафаэля, Микеланджело, Бернини и Мадерны.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Ciudad del Vaticano

Sitio sagrado de la cristiandad, la Ciudad del Vaticano es testigo de una gran historia y una prodigiosa empresa espiritual. El perímetro de este minúsculo Estado encierra un cúmulo ingente de obras de arte excepcionales. En su centro se yergue la gran basílica edificada sobre la tumba del apóstol San Pedro, precedida por una gran plaza circular con doble columnata y rodeada de palacios y jardines. Conceptuado como el mayor edificio religioso del mundo, este templo es obra del genio artístico de Bramante, Rafael, Miguel Ángel, Bernini y Maderna.

source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

バチカン市国
カトリック教会の総本山。世界のカトリック教とがサン・ピエトロ広場で教皇の祝杯を受ける。サン・ピエトロ大聖堂から伸びる美しい楕円弧の回廊と広場は、17世紀の巨匠ベルニーニの傑作。大聖堂の建設にはラファエロやミケランジェロも携わった。シティには他に、バチカン宮殿、政庁、庭園などがある。

source: NFUAJ

Vaticaanstad

Vaticaanstad is een van de meest heilige plaatsen binnen het christendom. Het getuigt van een omvangrijk geschiedenis en een grote spirituele onderneming. Binnen de grenzen van deze kleine staat bevindt zich een unieke collectie van artistieke en architectonische meesterwerken. In het centrum staat de Sint-Pietersbasiliek, met zijn dubbele zuilengalerij en een cirkelvormig plein aan de voorkant, omringd door paleizen en tuinen. De basiliek is gebouwd op het graf van de apostel Petrus. Het is het grootste religieuze gebouw ter wereld. Het meesterwerk kwam tot stand door de gezamenlijke inspanningen van kunstenaars, beeldhouwers en architecten als Bramante, Rafaël, Michelangelo, Bernini en Maderna.

Source: unesco.nl

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Vatican City (Holy See) © Limes.Media/Tim Schnarr
Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

One of the most sacred places in Christendom, Vatican City stands as a testimony to a history of about two millennia and to a formidable spiritual venture. Site of the tomb of the Apostle Saint Peter, first of the uninterrupted succession of Roman Pontiffs, and therefore a main pilgrimage centre, the Vatican is directly and tangibly linked with the history of Christianity. Furthermore, it is both an ideal and an exemplary creation of the Renaissance and of Baroque art. It exerted an enduring influence on the development of the arts from the 16th century.

The independent State, defined by the Lateran Treaty of 11 February 1929, extends its territorial sovereignty over an area of 44 ha in the centre of Rome: Vatican City enclosed by its walls and open toward the city through Bernini’s colonnade of Saint Peter’s. The boundaries of the city-state contain masterpieces and living institutions that are a witness to the unique continuity of the crucial role played by this place in the history of mankind. The Centre of Christianity since the foundation of Saint Peter’s Basilica by Constantine (4th century), and at a later stage the permanent seat of the Popes, the Vatican is at once the pre-eminently holy city for Catholics, an important archaeological site of the Roman world and one of the major cultural reference points of both Christians and non-Christians.

Its prestigious history explains the development of an architectural and artistic ensemble of exceptional value. Beneath the basilica of Saint Peter, reconstructed in the 16th century under the guidance of the most brilliant architects of the Renaissance, remains of the first basilica founded by Constantine still exist, as well as ruins of the circus of Caligula and Nero, and a Roman necropolis of the 1st century AD, where Saint Peter’s tomb is located. Under Julius II’s patronage in 1506, an extraordinary artistic era was inaugurated, leading to the decoration of Raphael’s Stanze and of the Sistine Chapel with frescoes by Michelangelo, along with the building of the new basilica, completed in 1626, fruit of the combined genius of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini, Maderno and Della Porta.

The Vatican Palace is the result of a long series of additions and modifications by which, from the Middle Ages, the Popes rivalled each other in magnificence. The original building of Nicholas III (1277-1280) was enlarged in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries: the history of the arts of the Renaissance and Baroque periods finds here iconic models.

In 1475, Sixtus IV founded the Vatican Library, which is the first open to the public in Europe; the collections of manuscripts and books, prints, drawings, coins and decorative arts, constantly increased through the centuries, making it an invaluable repository of human culture.

From the mid-18th century, the popes’ efforts were also directed towards expanding the private collections of antiquities dating back to the Renaissance: their transformation into public museums accessible to scholars and connoisseurs marks the origin of the Vatican Museums. New buildings were built specifically to house the classical sculptures, such as the Pio-Clementine Museum, which represents a milestone in the history of European culture. The 19th- and 20th-century additions of new and diverse collections and buildings accord with the tradition of papal patronage.

Criterion (i): The Vatican, a continuous artistic creation whose progress spreads over centuries, represents a unique masterpiece of the modelling of a space, integrating creations which are among the most renowned of mankind: not only the world famous icon of sacred architecture, the basilica of Saint Peter, but also the chapel of Nicholas V decorated by Fra Angelico, the Borgia apartment with frescoes by Pinturicchio, the Stanze of Raphael and his students, the Sistine Chapel, whose mural decoration, begun by Perugino, Botticelli and other painters, was completed in the 16th century with the frescoes of the ceiling and the monumental Last Judgement by Michelangelo, who left his last murals in the Pauline Chapel.

Criterion (ii): The Vatican exerted a deep influence on the development of art from the 16th century. Architects have visited it to study the constructions of Bramante (the Basilica of Saint Peter, the Belvedere Court), of Michelangelo (the cupola of Saint Peter), of Bernini (Saint Peter's colonnade, the Baldacchino of the Basilica). Both within and outside Europe, the Vatican buildings have been abundantly copied and imitated, the paintings (the frescoes of Raphael and Michelangelo) and the antiquities of the Museums no less so.

Criterion (iv): The Vatican is both an ideal and exemplary religious and palatial creation of the Renaissance and of Baroque art.

Criterion (vi): Site of the tomb of Saint Peter and pilgrimage centre, the Vatican is directly and materially linked with the history of Christianity. For more than a thousand years, mankind has accumulated, in this privileged site, the treasures of its collective memory (manuscripts and books of the Library) and of its universal genius.

Integrity

The boundaries of the property, which coincide with the entire territory of the Vatican City State, have preserved their original integrity and characteristics. The exceptional urban, architectural and aesthetic values, even through successive additions and changes in form and design, invariably maintain the highest standards of artistic quality and workmanship, building an organic ensemble of unparalleled harmony. Civil and sacred buildings, which have been in use for centuries, maintain their religious, cultural, institutional and diplomatic functions unaltered.

Authenticity

The property meets the required conditions of authenticity, since most of its features are still preserved and maintained in their initial form, perform their primary functions and truthfully convey their original spiritual and cultural values. The extensive restoration campaigns conducted on some of the most significant monuments of the site since the date of the inscription ensure the material conservation of the heritage and strengthen its capacity for expressing its values.

Protection and management requirements

The property is safeguarded by the law for the protection of the cultural heritage (no. 355, 25/07/2001) and by several ­rules of procedure issued by the various institutions of the Holy See in charge of heritage. For instance, the body responsible for the preservation and maintenance of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Fabbrica di S.Pietro, was founded in 1506 and is still active. The legal protective mechanism and traditional management system are adequate and ensure the effective protection of the site. The state of conservation of the property is constantly and carefully monitored, with special attention paid to the impact of the huge number of pilgrims and visitors.