In the world's smallest state

The construction of St Peter's was begun under Pope Julius II in 1506 and was completed in 1612, during the reign of Pope Paul V. In reality it is a reconstruction, since on the same site, before the present basilica, stood another dating back to the 4th century, built at the order of the emperor Constantine on the spot where the circus of Nero stood and where tradition holds that Saint Peter, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ and the first Pope of Christianity, was crucified and buried. The Pontifical Swiss Guard was founded in 1506 in Renaissance Rome and underwent only two interruptions: after the "Sack of Rome", from 1527 to 1548, and under Napoleon, from 1798 to 1814. This small Swiss colony in the metropolis of Rome is today the defence troop and honour guard of a religious "universal office" and at the same time a symbol of Switzerland's international fame.

The Renaissance prince and pope Julius II della Rovere, elected in 1503, pursued in those troubled years the political aim of strengthening the Papal States and reconquering rebellious territories. Filled with a sense of creative optimism, he supported poets and architects, sculptors and painters (Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael).