San Pietro in Vincoli

Walking up Via Cavour from the Forum, a block past Via dei Serpenti, (at the light) a small side street, really just a passageway under a building covered in ivy, could easily be passed over by the untrained eye. The set of stairs, that may have a name but certainly not on any map, leads to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, St. Peter in Chains.



The church dates back to the 5th century, but most of what we see today was added much later, with renovations in the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th centuries. The facade is very simple and you might not even think it was a church by the looks of it, simply a loggia with five arches that sits between the neighboring buildings. The interior carries the heaviest influence from the most recent renovations in the 18th century. It's stark whiteness gives a very neoclassical impression. The nave is lined with ancient columns looted from somewhere and along the right side (as you face the altar) two massive wood beams, that bear an inscription dating them to the 15th century, are mounted just below the shallow vault.



The church gets its name from a 5th century legend. The story goes that the chains which held St. Peter in jail in Jerusalem were brought to Rome as a gift for Pope Leo I by the Empress Eudoxia and he examined them along with the chains that held Peter when he was in the Mammertime prison. When the two sets of chains were next to each other they miraculously fused together. In honor of this miracle the Pope commissioned the church and it was consecrated in 493 AD. Today the chains can be seen by descending the stairs in front of the baldacchino. They are kept in a bronze urn given to the church in 1856.



The church's other famous feature is the tomb of Pope Julius II designed by Michelangelo. Originally the tomb was supposed to consist of 40 life size figures and was one of Michelangelo's greatest ambitions, but due to other commissions drawing the great master away and the death of the pope it is considerably smaller than planned. The central figure of the tomb is Moses, depicted in the moment he discovered the Israelites adoring an idol. The two stone tablets of the ten commandments are visible under his right arm. Protruding from his head are what appear to be two horns. They are, in fact, horns, but are meant to represent the light of God in Moses himself. Conveniently, the words for 'beams of light' and 'horns' are very similar in Hebrew so the artist was able to sculpt horns rather than beams of light and convey the same meaning. His look of anger toward his people mimics Julius II, who was known as the il papa terribile.



Another tall tale says that upon completion of the statue Michelangelo yelled, 'Speak!' at the marble because it was so life-like.