Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day 11 highlights: Picture postcards
di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti,
The oldest and first among the four major basilicas of Rome,
the Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the city
and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Pope.
One of the greatest works of
Roman architecture and engineering,
The Colosseum once had a capacity for 50,000 spectators.
It was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles,
and an estimated half a million people and
over a million wild animals had died there.
One of the most ancient parts of Rome,
the Palatine Hill is the centremost of
the Seven Hills of Rome.
What remained today are ruins which were once
palaces for many of the powerful Roman emperors.
The Forum Romanum was a city square and central hub
of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient Roman Empire - the centres of politics, religion and economy.
Located in the Forum Romanum is the Mamertine Prison,
where Sts Peter and Paul were believed to have been imprisoned before their death sentence.
It was here that Peter miraculously
created a spring to baptise his fellow prisoners.
San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains) is a basilica which, as the name suggests, houses the chains that bound St Peter during his imprisonment in Jerusalem as well as in the Mamertine Prison. The basilica is also known for Michelangelo's statue of Moses.
