The Papal Altar & Baldacchino in St Peter's Basilica - Vatican City - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

The stamp depicting The Papal Altar & Baldacchino in St Peter's Basilica in Vatican was emitted on June 15tyh, 1967 in occasion of 19th centennial anniversary of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul.

The Papal Altar where only the Pope celebrates Mass was consecrated by Clement VIII, June 5, 1594, on top of several other older altars. It is located just under Dome of the Basilica. It is commonly known as the Altar of the Confession. It was carved from a gigantic block of Greek marble which lay in Nerva's Forum.
The altar is surmounted by the splendid, majestic bronze "baldacchino", Bernini's first work in the basilica. He took nine years to make it, from 1624 to 1633, and used 6,200 k. of metal. The monument is typical of the 17th-century style: it stands on four pedestals of marble on which in the papal escutcheons a wonderful sequence showing "motherhood" is carved, liberally scattered with the heraldic bees of the Barberini to whose family Pope Urban VIII belonged. It was he who had commissioned Bernini to make this canopy in 1624. It rests upon four gigantic twisted columns, 20 m. high, adorned with sprigs of olive and bay, among which the graceful figures of cherubs appear, Acanthus leaves entwine the base and the capitals. The spiral fluting of the columns suggests upward movement. Like the portable canopies used in processions to cover the Eucharist, fringes and tassels dangle from the top of the covering. Inside the "ciborium" is a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, in a burst of golden rays. Above the frieze on each capital, four angels, the work of Francois du Duquesnoy, offer garlands, while between them couples of smaller angels support the Pope's emblems: the keys, the tiara, the book and sword. The vertex, where four vast ribs and palm branches converge from the four corners, is crowned by the cross, set on a golden globe.

Cited from (visit link)

Stamp Issuing Country: Vatican City State Date of Issue: June 15, 1967 Denomination: 90 Italian Lires Color: polychromic Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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