Italy - Vatican - Papal Basilica of St. Peter - Metalcraft
The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican ( Italian : Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply St. Peter's Basilica ( Latin : Basilica Sancti Petri), is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City , the papal enclave within the city of Rome . Designed principally by Donato Bramante , Michelangelo , Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini , St. Peter's is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world . While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome , St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world " and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom ". Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter , one of Jesus 's Apostles and also the first Pope . Saint Peter's tomb is supposedly directly belo...