Panorama showing the Presentation Chapel in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The picture was taken balancing the camera on a wooden platform with quite long exposures. Over on the other side of the nave is the Chapel of St. Sebastian.

St Peter's Basilica Presentation Chapel - Rome visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'St Peter's Basilica Presentation Chapel' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Roma.

The Presentation Chapel is one of the side chapels lining the nave of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. This is the second side chapel on the left side of the basilica. It is named for the mosaic by Cristofari of (1726-28) above the altar showing the Presentation of Mary as a child in the Temple of Jerusalem by her parents. It is based on an earlier painting by Romaneli done between 1638-42. Below the altar lies the body of Pope Pius X (1904-1914, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto), the last pope to be canonized.

In the Old Testament, it was only first-born males that needed to be presented at the Temple. This was naturally done with Jesus and is recorded in the Gospels. Baby girls were not presented at the temple in ancient times, and this mosaic is an attempt to parallel the lives of Mary and Jesus justifying her veneration. The event shown here is highly fictitious, not substantiated in any ancient literature.

To the left of the Presentation Chapel you can see the Monument to Benedict XV. The monument was installed in 1929 as a memorial to WWI, which he described as a 'useless massacre'. It shows Pope Benedict XV kneeling on a tomb covered in olive branches, the sign of peace. Above him is a picture of Mary presenting Jesus, Prince of Peace, to a world in flames.

St Peter's Basilica
Piazza San Pietro,
Vatican City

Metro: S.Pietro, Ottaviano (A)