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The Baldacchino of Bernini over the High Altar in St. Peter's


Gianlorenzo Bernini is the designer of the Baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica. He constructed it between 1624 and 1633. The masterpiece stands as a great bronze tent over the High Altar of the basilica. Its twisted column design is similar to the swirling columns that decorated the original basilica, and those columns, in turn, were thought to duplicate the columns of the Temple of Solomon.

The Baldacchino was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, of the Barbarini family. This is why bees (symbol of the Barbarini's) are promininent all over the work. It is interesting to note that the bronze to construct the Baldacchino was taken from the roof of the ancient Pantheon, and the people of the time quipped with a pun that translates: "What the BARBARIANS did NOT do (i.e. steal the bronze from the Pantheon), BARBARINI (i.e. Pope Urban VIII) DID!"

The Baldacchino of Bernini is the first Baroque masterpiece of significance.

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