Majestic Rome + Vatican

 17-18 September 2009

We're fly from Dubai on 09.25 am (17 sept) and we arrived at (Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport) Rome on 13.25. Firstly when i arrived, i didnt feel like i was in rome, because the airport was not really great as i expected before and when we're out to the street i just feel like i was still in indonesia.

But its totally different when we're in to the city. Everything just so great, antique.the streets, the trees, the stores, the cars, everything! And i said, " oh this is the real europe!!!" :D

i start to be excited!! :))))

after, we arrived the tour leader(hari) brought us to the The Biggest Church in the world, St.Peter Cathredal & Basilica, which when i arrived there...i popeyed when i looked around me.

The place is so hugeee, its like the huge circle where there are churches, chapels, and spaces in the center, the place where people gathering when theres devotion. It usually crowded on weekend, and extremely crowded on the special occasion like christmas, eve, and another special occasion. It sooo crowded because the people who come not only the European, but also American, Australian even Asian like Chinese, Indonesian, Philipines, and many other countries. And the gospel is read by many languages. Its sooo cool, isn't it? ;)

I really wanna look the Pope, to be honest. :)

i always adore the John Paul, the previous Pope. he is soo kind and generous, and the most amazing thing from him is he can speak 99 languages!!!! XD

then, while we queue, like usual i was taking pictures. :P all of the beauty!

the churchs, and also the peoples. ;)

and when we enter the Basilica, i really freeze and stunned of all things around me!

I said, " wow!!! wow!! wow!!" and i just can't speak another word except WOW!

i just can said that its so hugee and its sooooo beautiful! gergous!! xD

Unlike in other church which just have 1 altar, but in here many altars. so, we can choose which altar that we want to join. But every altar have different languages, so if we luck we can have devotion in our own language. ;)

There are many sculptures and great art!! Most of that art is made by MIchael D'Angelo.

Its so pretty! Could u imagine all of this walls(ALL) even the ceiling are covered by the painting. Angels paint and the apostle! :)) very interesting! thats why i called This Majestic Rome + Vatican . ;)

well, this is more info about St.Peter Basilica:

In Catholic tradition, the basilica 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. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed on November 18, 1626.

The Basilica of St. Peter is a huge church in the Renaissance style located in Rome west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrian's Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome. The basilica is approached via St Peter's Piazza, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid. The facade of the basilica, with a giant order of columns, stretches across the end of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 5.55 metres (18.2 ft) statues of the 1st century apostles to Rome,Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

The basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world. The entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door, only opened in Holy Years.

The interior is of vast dimensions by comparison with other churches.One author wrote: "Only gradually does it dawn upon us - as we watch people draw near to this or that monument, strangely they appear to shrink; they are, of course, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. This in its turn overwhelms us."

There is a barrel-vaulted nave, the highest of any church, leading to the central dome. The aisles are lower and have a number of chapels off them. There are also chapels surrounding the central dome. Moving around the basilica in a clockwise direction they are: The Baptistery, the Chapel of the Presentation of the Virgin, the larger Choir Chapel, the Clementine Chapel with the altar of St Gregory, the Sacristy Entrance, the left transept with altars to the Crucifixion of St Peter, St Josephand St Thomas, the altar of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel of the Madonna of Colonna, the altar of St Peter and the Paralytic, the apse with St Peter's Cathedra, the altar of St Peter raising Tabitha, the altar of the Archangel Michael, the altar of theNavicella, the right transept with altars of St Erasmus, Saints Processo and Martiniano, and St Wenceslas, the altar of St Basil, the Gregorian Chapel with the altar of the Madonna of Succour, the larger Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, the Chapel of St Sebastian and the Chapel of the Pieta.

The entire interior is lavishly decorated with marble, reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. The basilica contains a large number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered outstanding artworks. There are also a number of sculptures in niches and chapels, including Michelangelo's Pieta. The central feature is a baldachin, or canopy over the Papal Altar, designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini. The sanctuary culminates in a sculptural ensemble, also by Bernini, and containing the symbolic Chair of St Peter.

One observer wrote: "St Peter's Basilica is the reason why Rome is still the center of the civilized world. For religious, historical, and architectural reasons it by itself justifies a journey to Rome, and its interior offers a palimpsest of artistic styles at their best..."

The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described St Peter's as "an ornament of the earth ....the sublime of the beautiful."

Michelangelo's contribution

Michelangelo took over a building site at which four piers, enormous beyond any constructed since the days of Ancient Rome, were rising behind the remaining nave of the old basilica. He also inherited the numerous schemes designed and redesigned by some of the greatest architectural and engineering minds of the 16th century. There were certain common elements in these schemes. They all called for a dome to equal that engineered by Brunelleschi a century earlier and which has since dominated the skyline of Renaissance Florence, and they all called for a strongly symmetrical plan of either Greek Cross form, like the iconic St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, or of a Latin Cross with the transepts of identical form to the chancel as at Florence Cathedral.

Even though the work had progressed only a little in 40 years, Michelangelo did not simply dismiss the ideas of the previous architects. He drew on them in developing a grand vision. Above all, Michelangelo recognized the essential quality of Bramante's original design. He reverted to the Greek Cross and, as Helen Gardner expresses it: "Without destroying the centralising features of Bramante's plan, Michelangelo, with a few strokes of the pen converted its snowflake complexity into massive, cohesive unity."

As it stands today, St. Peter's has been extended with a nave by Carlo Maderno. It is the chancel end (the ecclesiastical "Eastern end") with its huge centrally placed dome that is the work of Michelangelo. Because of its location within the Vatican State and because the projection of the nave screens the dome from sight when the building is approached from the square in front of it, the work of Michelangelo is best appreciated from a distance. What becomes apparent is that the architect has greatly reduced the clearly defined geometric forms of Bramante's plan of a square with square projections, and also of Raphael's plan of a square with semi-circular projections.Michelangelo has blurred the definition of the geometry by making the external masonry of massive proportions and filling in every corner with a small vestry or stairwell. The effect created is of a continuous wall-surface that is folded or fractured at different angles, but lacks the right-angles which usually define change of direction at the corners of a building. This exterior is surrounded by a giant order of Corinthian pilasters all set at slightly different angles to each other, in keeping with the ever-changing angles of the wall's surface. Above them the huge cornice ripples in a continuous band, giving the appearance of keeping the whole building in a state of compression.

Okay, after that we go to The Roman Forum.

Adopted: Wiki travel

The Roman Forum is located in a valley that is between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill. It originally was a marsh, but the Romans drained the area and turned it into a center of political and social activity. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center. It was expanded to include temples, a senate house and law courts. When the Roman Empire fell, the Forum became forgotten, buried and was used as a cattle pasture during the Middle Ages. Picture taken looking at the Forum and the arch of Septimius Severus. There is more than one entrance into the Forum. The most spectacular is to enter through the Arch of Septimus Severus. At the foot of the Capitoline hill, you will start at an elevation and climb down a long set of steps into the Forum. From this height you will be able to take some spectacular pictures. The Arch of Septimus Severus was completed in AD 203. Next to the Arch of Septimus Severus is a remarkably intact building called the Curia Julia. The Curia Julia was a senate house. It has remained relatively intact because it was co-opted as a church in the 7th century AD and renamed the Church of Saint Adriano. This ecclesiastical protection extended to the Arch of Septimus Severus since it was so close. It needs to be understood that much of the destruction of ancient sites came not from fire or vandalism but in looting to reuse the materials for other buildings. As I mentioned in my post about the Colosseum, much of the marble in St. Peters was ripped from the walls of the Colosseum. If you enter the Forum from the other end, you will walk along the Via Sacra. The Via Sacra leads to the Colosseum. Many of the religious ruins in the Forum are on or about the Via Sacra. After that, we continuing our tour to Colloseum, Colloseum was exactly the same with the pictures that i looked before from the books. We're not going inside, we just went to bridge near Colloseum and takes pictures in there. I felt curious at that time, i want to look inside that because everyone told me that Colloseum is a creepy place because many peoples died there. I knew it. I though that its horrible watch person fought with the beast just for fun. >.< Its pity that we forbid to enter that building. :(( Adopt: Lonely Planet The Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days. During the early days of the Colosseum, ancient writers recorded that the building was used for naumachiae (more properly known as navalia proelia) or simulated sea battles. Accounts of the inaugural games held by Titus in AD 80 describe it being filled with water for a display of specially trained swimming horses and bulls. There is also an account of a re-enactment of a famous sea battle between the Corcyrean (Corfiot) Greeks and the Corinthians. This has been the subject of some debate among historians; although providing the water would not have been a problem, it is unclear how the arena could have been waterproofed, nor would there have been enough space in the arena for the warships to move around. It has been suggested that the reports either have the location wrong, or that the Colosseum originally featured a wide floodable channel down its central axis (which would later have been replaced by the hypogeum). Sylvae or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the arena. Painters, technicians and architects would construct a simulation of a forest with real trees and bushes planted in the arena's floor. Animals would be introduced to populate the scene for the delight of the crowd. Such scenes might be used simply to display a natural environment for the urban population, or could otherwise be used as the backdrop for hunts or dramas depicting episodes from mythology. They were also occasionally used for executions in which the hero of the story — played by a condemned person — was killed in one of various gruesome but mythologically authentic ways, such as being mauled by beasts or burned to death. It just take 30 minutes to takes pictures in front of the Colloseum, then before we go to hotel..we visit the Trevi Fountain where u can make a wish or wishes there, so u stand back of the Trevi then after u make a wish u throw the coins(euro not indonesian. :P) to the pool. they said that it would be granted if u wish solemnly. :) Ther are many gellatos there! dozens or more!!! i love ice cream, and its a bit confused to choose one among them, because i looks many different types og yummy ice cream there!! huff... but the TL(tour leader) told me there is one, the most fav gellato store among all of these. The place is near the trevi fountain, and the place was in the corner and quite huge. I tried the chocolate one. But after i tasted it, i just can said that it taste so original, not to sweet, but i like Baskin Robin or Dairy Queen more. :P They are more tasty than this. :P When i visited europe, the price was sooo high! its 14.000 IDR/ 1 Eur. soooo expensive!!! i suggested u to but the currency a few months before u fly. at least, it would be cheaper. but when i went to europe last year, the euro currency ws the highest. even pounds was cheaper. Then, we go to Piazza venezia, then to Monument Victor Emmanuel II. After we takes pictures dozen times, we back to the hotel. The hotel that we stayed was : IBIS FOR VERGATA Via Vico Vigano 24, 00133 Rome, Italy Ph : 00 39 06 206621 Fax: 00 39 06 2005164