Compass Map: [Rome Map] + Saint Peter's Square (St. Peter's Basilica)

At the front of the view are the backs of thirteen large statues that stand in along the edge of the facade. Beyond them can be seen the piazza which is in three parts. The nearest appears square, while the second widens into an oval surrounded on each side by the huge grey columns on the colonnade, and with the obelisk at its centre. Beyond that is a further square surrounded by pale pink buildings. A wide street leads from the square, at the end of which can be seen the river, a bridge and castle.

Officially known in Italian as the Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people^.It is the symbolic "Mother church" of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession.