Five portals give access to the edifice, which faces east.
"Enter, its grandeur overwhelms thee not."--BYRON.
"The most extensive hall ever constructed by human art expands in
magnificent perspective before you. Advancing up the nave, you admire
the beauty of the variegated marble under your feet, and the splendour
of the golden vault overhead, the lofty Corinthian pilasters with
their bold entablature, the intermediate niches with their statues,
the arcades with the graceful figures that recline on the curves of
their arches. But how great your astonishment when you reach the foot
of the altar, and, standing in the centre of the church, contemplate
the four superb vistas that open around you; and then raise your eyes
to the dome, at the prodigious elevation of 440 feet, extended like a
firmament over your head, and presenting, in glowing mosaic, the
companies of the just and the choirs of celestial spirits....
"Around the dome rise four other cupolas, small, indeed, when compared
with its stupendous magnitude, but of great boldness when considered
separately; six more, three on either side, cover the different
divisions of the aisles; and six more of greater dimensions canopy as
many chapels. All these inferior cupolas are, like the grand dome
itself, lined with mosaics. Many, indeed, of the masterpieces of
painting which formerly graced this edifice have been removed [to the
Church of S. Maria degli Angeli, see page 265], and replaced by
mosaics, which retain all the tints and beauties of the originals,
impressed on a more solid and durable substance. The aisles and altars
are adorned with numberless antique pillars that border the churches
all around, and form a secondary order" (Eustace).
The variegated walls are in many places ornamented with festoons,
wreaths, crosses, and medallions representing the effigies of
different pontiffs. Various monuments rise in different parts of the
church, of exquisite sculpture, and form very conspicuous features in
the ornament of this grand temple.
Below the steps of the altar, and, of course, some distance from it,
at the corners, on four massive pedestals, four twisted pillars, 50
feet in height, rise and support an entablature, which bears the
canopy itself, topped with a cross. The whole is 95¼ feet from the
pavement. This brazen edifice--for so it may be called--was
constructed of bronze stripped from the dome of the Pantheon, and is
so disposed as not to obstruct the view by concealing the chancel and
veiling the chair of S. Peter. This ornament is also of bronze, and
consists of a group of four gigantic figures, representing the four
principal doctors of the Greek and Latin Churches, supporting the
chair at an elevation of 70 feet. Under the high altar of S. Peter's
is the tomb of that apostle, the descent to which is in front, where a
large open space leaves room for a double flight of steps. The rails
that surround this space above are adorned with one hundred and twelve
bronze cornucopiæ, which support as many silver lamps, burning during
the day in honour of the apostle. Upon the pavement of the small area
enclosed by the balustrade is the kneeling statue of Pius VI., by
Canova.