Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DON'T MISS…
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Michelangelo's
Moses
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St Peter's chains
PRACTICALITIES
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MAP
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Piazza di San Pietro in Vincoli 4a
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8am-12.30pm & 3-7pm Apr-Sep, to 6pm Oct-Mar
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Cavour
St Peter's Shackles
The church was built in the 5th century specially to house these shackles, which had been
sent to Constantinople after the saint's death but were later returned as relics. They arrived
in two pieces; legend has it that when they were reunited, they miraculously joined togeth-
er. They are now displayed under the altar.
Michelangelo's
Moses
To the right of the altar, Michelangelo's colossal
Moses
(1505) forms the centrepiece of
Pope Julius II's unfinished tomb. On either side of the prophet are statues of Leah and
Rachel, probably completed by Michelangelo's students. Moses, who sports a magnificent
waist-length beard and two small horns sticking out of his head, has been studied for cen-
turies, most famously by Sigmund Freud in a 1914 essay,
The Moses of Michelangelo
.
The horns were inspired by a mistranslation of a biblical passage: where the original said
that rays of light issued from Moses' face, the translator wrote 'horns'. Michelangelo was
aware of the mistake, but he gave Moses horns anyway.
Despite the tomb's imposing scale, it was never completed - Michelangelo originally
envisaged 40 statues but he got sidetracked by the Sistine Chapel, and Pope Julius was
buried in St Peter's Basilica.
