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First chapel on the right

Carved from a single block of Carrara marble when Michelangelo was just 24.

Mary holds the body of her Son across her lap, calm in her grief. It is the only work he ever signed, on the sash across her chest.

The nave, on the right before the crossing

Peter sits enthroned, blessing with one hand and holding the keys in the other.

Pilgrims have touched his right foot for seven centuries and worn it smooth. On 29 June, his feast, he is dressed in papal vestments.

Beneath the dome, over the papal altar

A bronze canopy nearly 29 metres tall, raised on four twisting columns.

It crowns the altar where the pope celebrates Mass, directly above the tomb of St. Peter.

Above the crossing

Michelangelo designed it but did not live to see it closed.

Around its base, letters two metres tall carry Christ's words to Peter: Tu es Petrus, you are Peter.

Beneath the papal altar

Steps lead down from the nave to the confessio, facing the niche above the apostle's grave.

Deeper still lies a Roman necropolis and the grave honoured as Peter's since the second century.

The apse, at the far end

A gilded bronze throne held aloft by four Doctors of the Church.

It encloses an ancient wooden chair long honoured as Peter's. Above it, a window of alabaster glows with the dove of the Holy Spirit.