Basilica: The Splendor And The Scandal: Building St. Peter's (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
R.A. Scotti's "Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's" is more than just a biography of one of the world's great architectural wonder's. “Basilica” is a wonderfully readable historical narrative of the mid and late Renaissance in a plot-thick story of warrior-popes, international intrigue, angst-riddled artistes all intersecting, orbiting and colliding at this historical inflection point.The building itself was constructed under the leadership of thirty different popes. Scotti writes, "...the convulsions of history became a backdrop that changed like a series of stage sets. Over the decades of construction, the Church evolved, and the world evolved with it and sometimes because of it." Pope Julius II placed the first stone over the very spot where Jesus' disciple Peter was buried. She writes, "The enterprise was audacious, but so were the times. Gutenberg had invented the printing press, Columbus had stumbled on a new continent, and the Renaissance was in full bloom." The list of characters who played central and supporting roles is like a who's who of 15th and 16th Century European stars: Michelangelo, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), numerous di' Medicis, Bramante, Sangallo (Older AND Younger), Raphael, Martin Luther, Columbus, Pizarro, King Charles V, and the list goes on and on. It’s a Renaissance Festival on the Love Boat.“Basilica” is not a historical treatise weighed heavily down by obscure footnotes, and archival trivia. It's not intended to be. It's an episodic narrative, providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the tortured, anguished, aggressive, pious, unethical and enlightened personalities that drove, and were driven, by the 15th and 16th century Renaissance. While Florence was the beating heart of the Renaissance, pumping its blood across Europe, Scotti writes “Rome, this city of Caesars and cradle of Christianity, was a hellhole, the imperial relics overgrown, buried, or turned into animal lairs.” This was not unnoticed by the nuovo-Caesar Popes, who thought, as one papal biographer wrote, that the “Vatican should outshine in magnificence the Palatine of the Emperors.” This vision was not such a stretch as, Scotti writes, “The Renaissance papacy became a government more than a religion, led by statesmen and sometimes warriors who could rarely afford to be saints.”One of the stars of “Basilica” is Pope Julius II – known as the Warrior-Pope. He’d survived and outlasted his Borgia enemies, and took full advantage of his time in papal office. He was a human hurricane, driving away, or over, anything in his path. One contemporary wrote that he was “full of fury and extravagant conceptions.” This hurricane was the driving force of a new St. Peter’s Basilica…if not in it’s modern state, then certainly in its conception.Scotti writes, “He brought recalcitrant princes to heel, reclaimed papal territories…and ennobled the world with art.” A scholar wrote, “It was through him that Rome became the Classical City of the World…and the Papacy the pioneer of civilization.”And while the Renaissance recognized an explosion in new thinking, it’s most visible manifestation is its explosion of art. Art became a mechanism for mass communication. Think of it as an ancient twitter – instead of 140 characters – think of 140 pounds of marble…Julius knew the beauty and power of art, and wanted it to be an integral part of this new monument to God and Christianity (and to a lesser, but still significant extent, to him). Art and architecture were inextricably connected during the Renaissance. And so some of the most famous painters of the time were also key members of the Basilica’s architectural ‘staff’ – namely Raphael and Michelangelo.The story of the Basilica is not (only) a story of a building. It’s a story of personalities. If Julius II is one of the leads, then Michelangelo is his co-star. Michelangelo is absolutely a tortured soul…tormented by his talent and his need to create. He comes across as the most pious of almost all other players in this world theater. He seems to have adored, feared, hated and idolized Julius…all at the same time. Julius asked Michelangelo to sculpt a magnificent tomb, but for numerous reasons neither man could deliver. Michelangelo would ultimately deliver his “Moses” as the centerpiece to Julius’ tomb, but it’s not in the Basilica, and magnificent as it is, it represents only a shadow of what both men originally wanted. Michelangelo would paint the Sistine Chapel (the ceiling and the back wall), but he would also serve as chief architect of St. Peters, 30 years after Julius died.There’s certainly a “Pillars of Earth” vibe to the tale - but without any of the ‘regular’ people. All of these heroes and villains (and at times it’s impossible to tell the difference…nor does it really matter) are characters on a grand stage.I thoroughly enjoyed this book for what it is: a crisp narrative of Renaissance Europe, full of bigger-than-life characters, and world-changing events colliding around the creation of a man-made miracle. It’s a miracle of architectural and artistic achievement and a testament to something much bigger and longer lasting than the world events in its orbit.“Basilica” is extremely well written, and reads as smoothly as good historical novel. Except none of it is fiction. It’s too good to be fiction. This book is a must if you’re planning a trip to Rome or simply interested in a coherent and comprehensive overview of this fascinating period in history.
Basilica is a creative blending of the histories of engineering, architecture and art (and the towering figures in both fields, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, Bramante), the Catholic Church and the papacy (along with the individual popes), and cultural and political movements in Europe during the time leading up to and following the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; Luther makes an appearance as does Galileo. Scotti adeptly pulls in and weaves together details from all these strands. The relocation of the obelisk during Sixtus's papacy is an incredible story; the darkness of his across-the-board death sentence on all criminals is bewildering. (Because of all the technical and historical detail, the audio version is not a good book to listen to if you're sick or trying to get caught up on needed rest - you'll easily lose track of the details and have to keep backtracking to collect them all.) The printed version includes a nice set of reproduced paintings, sketches, and sculpture architectural renderings, along with photos of the present-day reality of this architectural and religious gem.
What do You think about Basilica: The Splendor And The Scandal: Building St. Peter's (2007)?
Its not just about a building. Its about the economics of religion during the Renaissance, about papal politics and power, about the succession of diva celebrity artists and architects who created the greatest masterpieces known - for the glory of god or the pursuit of fame and fortune; its about the sacking and rebuilding of Rome, the historic divorce of the Church from the Reformists, and the massive task of constructing St. Peter's Basilica throughout it all, taking 1300 years to complete, from the first stone to the final consecration. Its a lot, told well enough that you'll put a visit to the Basilica on your bucket list. It is historical and data driven, but not the dry stuff of textbooks. There's enough juicy scandal, corruption, and rags to riches drama culled from the research to satisfy any soap opera enthusiast. Very well done.
—Peggy
From the back cover: In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Pope Julius II shocked Christendom by razing the original St. Peter's, which had stood for over a millennium, to make way for a magnificent new church. Scandalous from its inception, the construction of the new St. Peter's would take two tumultuous centuries to complete, challenge the greatest visionaries of the Renaissance ~~ Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante ~~ and provokethe Reformation. In this fascinating book, R. A. Scotti traces the defining architectural feat of a glorious epoch and shows how its rise forever transformed the Eternal City.This book was fascinating on many levels. The artists and architects involved in the building, the Popes who either championed or ignored the project, the evolution of the Church during those years, the Basilica itself as it grew from nothing to a landmark known worldwide. My thoughts are still swirling but I will try to pin them down. There are familiar places that those of us alive today recognize, and it can be difficult to imagine them in any other form. I think that makes us take these areas for granted, and reading a book like this one can help a person appreciate how magical these places truly are, and what a human triumph their construction was.Numbers on a page don't translate very well into an awareness of size, at least not in my math-phobic brain. There is an appendix at the end of the book listing various statistics of St. Peter's, but a casually tossed out fact in the book itself brought home the scale of the place a bit better for me. After the dome was completed, the decoration of the interior began. There is a Latin phrase around the lower rim of the cupola: in order for it to be seen from the floor below, each letter is six feet high, almost as tall as my brother. This reminded me of reading about the three ships that carried Columbus on his voyage to the New World in 1492. They were about 56 to 58 feet long, which never meant much to me until I read that a tennis court was 78 feet long. Imagine going to sea in a ship that would fit inside a tennis court! But now imagine the sheer bravado of designing and building on the scale of the Basilica, which has room inside for 50,000 people. Supposedly it was conceived for the glory of God, but human egos were very much involved, and it seemed that nearly everyone on the project wanted to be sure that future generations would know exactly who was responsible for what. I wonder about the workers, the men who actually raised St. Peter's stone by stone. The thinkers were important of course, but without the blood, sweat, and tears of the construction crew, the Basilica would never have found its soul.
—Debbie Zapata
Genre:Non-fictionSummary Blurb(s):Out of the clash of genius and the caprice of popes came the most glorious monument of the RenaissanceIt was the splendor-and the scandal-of the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europe-the millenniumold St. Peter's Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostle's grave-to build a better basilica. Construction of the new St. Peter's spanned two centuries, embroiled twenty-seven popes, and consumed the genius of the greatest artists of the age-Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, and Bernini. As the basilica rose, modern Rome rose with it as glorious as the city of the Caesars. But the cost was unimaginable. The new basilica provoked the Protestant Reformation, dividing the Christian world for all time.In this swift, colorful narrative, R. A. Scotti brings to life the artists and the popes, the politics and the passions behind this audacious enterprise. Gothic cathedrals reach up to heaven, but the basilica brings heaven to earth, and the new St. Peter's was the defining event of the high Renaissance.In the tradition of Brunelleschi's Dome, Scotti turns sacred architecture into a spellbinding human epic of enormous daring, petty jealousy, and staggering genius.(Goodreads)Interesting Quotes:---Other Thoughts:The building of St. Peter’s Basilica told through the stories of the popes and artists involved in its building over the course of history, and the consequences of the building on the Catholic church. An interesting historical read, brings up the interrelatedness of events and they’re outcomes.
—Katie Lambrix
