Roma - St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is part of Vatican City (officially the "State of Vatican City") a walled enclave within the city of Rome. With an area of about 44 hectares, and a population of about 850 it is the smallest state in the world.

St. Peter's Basilica of today replaced "Old St. Peter's Basilica", that existed from the 4th to the 16th century, when the construction on the new basilica started. Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in "Old St. Peter" in 800.

(New) St. Peter's Basilica, designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture, completed in 1590. It is one of the largest churches worldwide .

The Pope had open the "Holy door" ("Porta Sancta") in early December 2016, marking the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. And so now anybody entered St. Peter's Basilica through the small "Holy door" (..and I could never take a photo without people passing through..).