that brings up today to know the international news. i've been puzzling thanks for watching dw, to stay with us. i'll be back next out with one each by the we are all set. we are watching close to the to bring you the story behind the new, the will on about come by as information for free might say, due to me in the

as nations go, the vatican is tiny. but on the stage of world history, it's a giant, the magnificent buildings of vatican city were built around the humble tomb of saint peter. even the 1st basilica on the site was almost as large as no true diamond paris. no, of course the structure was over 120 meters long and 66 matters wide. its dimensions were colossal. you'll need to sally. and the successor to the 1st basilica is even more impressive. saint peters basilica was intended to be the largest church in the world, covering over 20000 square meters, the size of 3 soccer fields. it can hold 60000 worshippers. the vatican allows us to see what is normally closed, to prying eyes and 3 d animation immerses us in the cities amazing architecture to

join us as we bring the secrets of the holy city to life. the vatican lies in the heart of italy, nestled in the city of rome. it is less than half a square kilometer in area, a 3rd of which is made up of gardens and parks. excluding a few plots of land outside the city proper. the vatican is only a bit the size of monaco. the pontiff stands at the head of the small nation, protected by 135 swift guards. the vatican may be a micro nation, but it is the spiritual guiding light for 1300000000 christians across the world.

the if you think about it 2000 years ago, there was nothing on nevada can help to understand how is city state with the norm is symbolic power was created from nothing or almost nothing. we have just started st. peter's basilica. more than 20000 visitors descend on the cathedral every day. to admire the architectural masterpiece, the lavish decor and the christian imagery news about the origins of saint peter's basilica light beneath its marble floors. at the exact spot where the famous 28 meter high bronze canopy stands. if you were to dig down 10 meters, you would discover that necropolis lay here before the cathedral was built,

the lending company that the men acropolis was laid out along a small road. these burial sites were located here on the hill. they were placed on the outskirts of the city because the ancient romans divided the living from the dead. the stream wave on the city was the realm of the living. and the dead lived outside it. a video possible before at that time this graveyard was actually outside the city of rome. its well preserved and still contains tombs, some of which are over 2000 years old. and near this, the crop of this is another building that played an important role for the vatican . down the hill from the cemetery. amber, a collegial a, had a roman arena, built to legal not able to eat because they live built

a venue that he then left his successors, including euro, which is why it is also known as the circus of curricula in neuro or not. in the middle. the circus was 500 meters long, 100 meters wide and could hold up to 20000 spectators. it was the site of a pivotal event and the story of christianity. at the foot of this obelisk in the year 6480. after the great fire of rome and 64, a, d, m for nero, decided to blame the christians and to set up a mixture of spite of execution. in this surface, he executed the saint peter crucified upside down, and his friends are given the body of a 70 year old dead man, which they have to very quickly. and they buried him in a hole in the ground. this simple hole in the middle of the acropolis became a pilgrimage shrine for christians from all over the world. emperor constantine,

250 years later, was the 1st roman emperor to convert to christianity. he had a church built there, laying the foundation for what later became saint peter's basilica. the church that we know today is saint john letter and was the 1st church field. and that was followed by a series of other churches dedicated to saint peter, paul, lawrence cetera. the basilica, the constantine, built for saint peter was probably the most complex project because the one requisites was that the 2 of saint peter stay where it was and become the central space at the church. this is an effort to preserve the exact spot of peter's tool, which is really beyond the ordinary, this unusual project to begin with, dismantling the circus of curricula and nero only,

the obelisk and the middle remained after the stones were removed, the slope of the hillside, and which the basilica was to be built, had to be levelled off in order to do this, since peter's tomb was on a hillside, the engineers had to lop off the top of the hill in order to create a flat plateau. begonia for the uphill slope had to be excavated and the soil used in silver slop downhill a bit too. but it was stabilized at the southern metre high retaining wall. display on the surface on which the largest christian basilica the time could be built and get out of the busy because a lot people get on the bus. the guy just. yeah. of course, the structure was over 120 meters long and 66 meters wide. the transcript was 90 meters across on obama. amazing when the gum laguna,

another 60 or 70 meters were added in front of the basilica for the atrium. video and i mean, i mean that it's dimensions were colossal, radiated columns made of expensive marble getting the model blocks from the imperial course to rome, inquired complex, logistical planning style. but in the late middle ages, when the basilica was almost a 1000 years old, it needed renovation. and numerous alterations had greatly changed its appearance. building with many sections added to it. unclear and maybe even on fits for religious ceremonies that were taking place or should the original basilica be renovated and further altered or simply demolished. the church chose the 2nd option and plan and even more colossal building they want to something that

would reflect a new power at the stage of the renaissance papacy in size, but also in its form in its aesthetic qualities. it needs to be grandiose. the dome of saint peter's basilica is a symbol of this grand year. from below, it looks as if it was built with consummate ease. but the reality was quite different. constructing the dome and the rest of the cathedral was an adventure to say the least. ceremony drawings by all the architects that have been involved in the project so long to like to learn slow, the 4th time, my dear enough, but how to connect all these drawings and the steins who is doing walks and what needs to watch. that is very difficult puzzles. this whole

the, the 1st pieces of the puzzle include an extraordinary pope julie as the 2nd and a star battalion architecture do not feel bermonte. together, they began with saint peter's basilica project. the lay out does not resemble of black and cross as churches usually do, but takes the form of a greek cross with a central zone for smaller neighboring downs, and 4 towers are mounted, designed a greek cross projects, which agrees with renaissance ideas of the ideal buildings and with spiritual ideas, gold being in the center of the universe. somewhat attractive again in this was in the innovative project. bob. nothing like it has ever been done before. and so it required huge financial and material investment. it had the purposeful and generous support in that you're going to face bermonte model, his dough month,

that of the pansy on built in ancient times and only 2 kilometers from the vatican . the nearly 2000 year old building has survived because the architects of the time had mastered the use of concrete. the from monte adopted the shape of the pantheon down, but raised the dome of saint peter's by several dozen meters respected on zillow. sec. jase at saint peter's is a grandiose cathedral with a central floor plan facing the gigantic stones rests on 4 pillars. with 4 large, gorgeous i'm using black. we let me cheek up 11. i think we made that even if it was technically difficult to build, taking us the structure not only had to be directed, but also had to last for a long time. so it had to be able to support its own way. so stands as well as with

stan earthquake causes that storms and other one for seen events. over the course of time, i did remote particularly strong as she said 0. and you can know the important. let me work again on the new st. peter's basilica in 15 o 6, and remain the one of a con construction site for almost 120 years. wherever. this was certainly the largest construction site in the world at the time my money, but i didn't mean to construct such a building. you not only needs brakes, limestone track regina and marble, but also materials such as iron lead. and tim, okay, i'll think about it. yeah. federal bureau, of course, this is also true for other cathedrals, but especially for st. peter's because it is so big i. k, i know, been involved with the construction not only touched on what is now the laws your region, but practically the whole of your all the best sums of funding were raised

work progress slowly, hope julie as the 2nd died 1513. and don't know until bermonte followed a year later by then the structural corps of saint peter's had been completed, including the 4 columns and their connecting arches. but construction of the dome had not even begun. and it was not clear if it could be built at all, the successors of julie as the 2nd dental not to bermonte, now had to contend with the half finished. sho. if you think about the number of helps a number of architects, it is a very long winded projects not longer than any other projects that any other problem on the to the future of saint peters remained uncertain. for 40 years. it was as if the project was cursed, architect after architect brought only sluggish progress. one of these rough buyout

plan to transform the layouts into a latin cross with the classical names. when he died, the 37, his plans died with him. raphael successor, antonio, the son jello pondered a wouldn't model for 8 years without saying a single stone the the 1st architect to bring momentum back to the project. despite his advanced years was michelangelo the almost out of desperation pope all the 3rd summon michelangelo, gwen and rotate. in november, 1546, because all the other great masters had died out, it must be to be done by the could the old masters still achieve a stroke of genius that 72? would you live long enough to leave his mark on the building? and how would he go about building the huge stone?

these questions remained unanswered for the time being. like per month, he wants to bills a hand. this farrah done michelangelo admired the punchy, and he said that it was built by angels and not by man. these are the most difficult times to build because the nature of the hemisphere wants to implode. michaelangelo again took up vermont a's original idea of, of the silica with this central down. partly because perfect symmetry represented purity, and partly for reasons of cost. you couldn't just think of something completely out of the to sort of you have to work with what was already standing because it wouldn't been far too expensive to tear down everything and then build something. but michelangelo wanted to set an example as an artist and master builder. his don't was to be the largest ever built to get on general and onboarding.

michaelangelo designed a revolutionary donetta. it is basically a double jones with 2 domes that sits on top of each other but hardly touch god. they are separate from each other and the inner don't. there's the way it gets. walls are barely one meter thick. apple, but over the dome is 42 meters in diameter, man. so this was very daring. i mean get the idea behind michelangelo's double. don't me is that the pair of the load and together going and reinforce each other because they aren't connected at the edge. you see the jammed the land turn that over to you. so for me say i did it in a lot on the don't wrists on a ring shape, september or drum which is clad with 15 meter high double columns at the top click eventually. i just didn't live to see the dog. those dogs nice to

finish is the drum one. then we want a, the silica look very strange when he died, a switch a suit, and his building successor inherited a time or without of no pressing who would finally achieve the seemingly impossible task of building the don't michaelangelo successor was giacomo de la force. and when he showed the pope his design, he knew exactly what sort of challenges awaited him. texas the 5th half of the day and says, oh the poor to how long is this guy? how parent pines, michelangelo, 17 years to build the drum. so the poor to assess 10 years, which is a massive underestimate to build this little was done twice the height

of the policies and successes you have to complete to erect the don't within such a short time frame, deal a port to altered michelangelo's design fee replace the hemisphere with a peak arch raising the dome, another 7 meters. he retained the idea of the double zones, but his shells would thicker and thanks to internal ribs much more stable, essentially posted only these rib, it's better to distribute the ways to the load bearing surface. so the drum below. think about that and see if the 2nd advantage is that the ribs connected with the 2 shells score so that they move together in the foundation of settles a level or in an earthquake quote. so they are a much stronger and more stable ones here. it was the local stuff, the dealer porto also had metal reinforcements built into the don't structure

on all 3 of the chairs. and there are 3 metal rings in the door and 4 more in the lantern is that, i mean it is further reinforced by chains. iron plates and metal rods, the large amount of iron made it a very modern structure of the iron plays and especially important role for the lantern. at a 110 meters above the ground, it is completely exposed to the winds and so tends to vibrate us by loud. yeah. so would have to flex as much as possible and like to ask the guy that was use you might say technical stroke of genius that made it possible to build its own actually even higher than like 9 sort of plans. and this is also a cheap by his work, cuz on site building in 6 to 7,

around the 12 dell apiece, finishes vista in 22 months, say john on the 6th as the 5th. to hear time limit the in 16 o 3. 12 years after the construction of the main don't, the new chief architect calling on my down know, had the oldest silica demolished the. the name was built in its place, making saint peter's basilica, the largest church in the world. but the facade was massive and blocked the view of the don't. from saint peter's square, the police definitely from a functional point of view, everything was perfect. but michelangelo's design had been disfigured. i don't see, i should be up with you that you could no longer see the don't especially the timber, which was

a key element to the don't on my that machine. you were still mature. know, chose this type of facade because it resembled a palace facade. and gave the impression that there was an institution within the took c o. x architect, john, lorenzo bettany was given the task of reducing the facade mass of appearance and bringing the don't back to the for on paper. the solution seemed relatively simple . but for vanity, it turned into a nightmare. bringing was commission to build some towers on the facade that had been erected by and whether or not, but because the lines on which stopped part of the structure are standing, are quite marshy. the foundations were moving off to supports these towers. so when he starts to build these towers fairly quick, the cracks appear in the facades of saint peters have made clear about tactics v. this was not possible. despite the set back then any would ultimately leave deep

impression. it was he who designed the best silicates interior from the canopy over saint peter's tomb, to the adornment of the don't support pillars and the church flooring. the, a few years later, he was entrusted with a task that would also shape the architecture of the vatican. he was commissioned to design saint peter's square. in his design, bernini had envisioned a 3rd colony, intended to surprise visitors when they 1st saw the basilica from the piazza. but when pope alexander the 7th died, no pope after him was willing to commit to the expensive building project zone to the southern dines when the piazza is complete. it has already cost squealing. in fact, an estimate has been done for the cost of the building of the whole of some peaches

. the piazza is somewhere in the region of $9000000000.00 with it spectacular design. st. peter's square is the most symbolic and famous gateway to the vatican city, state. beyond the symbolic border, you are officially no longer in vatican, but in a town in territory. you cross from one country to another without even realizing it, just by setting foot in the square. but there is another largely secret way in and out. this 800 metre long cord, or behind the arcades of saint peter's square is known as the past set to the portico, or the bar go passage. how is this tunnel created? what was it used for? was it there to spirit pope's in danger? out of the vatican, or was it used for dr. per as this was built as

a covered passage, which people would not see what was going on inside it. and of course, all sorts of stories in the pipes going to meet the mistresses in cost us in time 0, pull. going to see the execution of somebody they particularly hated the vatican was not always surrounded by a wall. in fact, a transformative event had to occur before the pope decided he had to better protect himself. a 46 for cyrus and this tyco steel. and those are the thoughts on right that of, and to the city thoughts. they suck the stuff up in the churches. it's certainly a terrible show to west some chris, this isn't a very important defend the history vaskins because it triggers the building of

a wall, which has become in a 48. it took 4 years to complete the wall. today, only a few sections remain built in tale of run and breaks with some great folks to stay. but it's probably about 8 meters high, 2 and a half inches thick, with towers along it. up about 20 to 25 tons. and that will link cost us sometimes you to the batch, gonna hill up behind some pages and then runs down the other side. for me, a long rectangular strip which is the boat 3 can. number 2 is low. in the 13th century, and 800 meter long section was altered using this prostate to the boat. though the pope could reach the nearby castile sand on zillow fortress from the up

a solid palace. it's a way of thinking about going to cost us in town 0. if i was going down into the street, the presence of the fortress of castillo sometimes draws a safe haven because people position in rome was always dressed in no time the from the outside. but also by in a riot, some difficulties inside the city. this strategically important passage was modified again in the 15th century. the city wall was raised and the former battlements became a tunnel with the offensive slits for embrace. years on both sides. again, an open passage lay along the top so you could have sold as above. so just below that also soldiers can move freely on the cover invisibly along this low compet passage way. in the eventful history of the vatican,

the past set to the board of the twice proved its worth as a lifeline. 1494 when colleagues onto the 6 is stress and by the french king charles the 8th and he pauses down the process. so 2 color design, just most famously in 1527, columbus. the 7th has to flee the troops of the emperor of charles the 5th. because you have to imagine, not just the pope gained on the process of, you know, whole contract of car, nose and bureaucrats. and this is probably a one is the same as you know, chaos inside the best set to apart from these 2 tens, military episodes, very little is really known about what the passage was used for. but there are plenty of rumors about secret rendezvous. secret us admissions are a feature of political life. suppose that there is a source of glorified facts,

this but because it secret may square off around it. and we will never read the following the last attack in 1527. peace range for the vatican for 2 and a half centuries. during this time, further, architectural projects were completed. of course, work on saint peters, basilica continued, but other, no, that's astonishing. buildings were also erected like this tower. it's called the toilet a dave and the tower of the winds and marks the 2nd highest point to the vatican. it was not field to watch for enemies, but to study the stars. but why was the vatican interested in astronomy? what influence did the tower have on the world's calendars? and why was a hole boards in the side of the tower?

the attorney opening was bored in the south facade, but it's only about 4 centimeters in diameter. it gets ultimate at 73 meters tall. the tower is visible from afar, but it's not open to the public. it was a record at the end of the 16th century with a very specific purpose. nichols to show the tower of the wind. it was built between 15781582 confirm a calendar reform that the pope wanted to complete before the end of this month. typical sodium on the new york state, they am the father of sending it to the pope in question with gregory the 13th and with this tower, he hoped to correct the old julian calendar, which had been introduced by julius caesar. it was not accurate enough and shifted the dates of religious holidays over the centuries. so actually, so the julian calendar doesn't work very well because of the inaccurate in pringle

home. the julian year is about 11 minutes longer than the average solar year olds mean least 11 minutes accumulate over time. after about 120 years, the discrepancy amounts to a whole day. behind the doors of a room on the 2nd floor, the traces left behind by the world famous astronomer, if not see what danty are still visible. the eye on a wall in the middle of a fresco is an oculus, a hole through which sunlight falls. a line has been chiseled into the marble floor, a meridian running from north to south. 5th to noon selected at the moment the sun reaches its highest point and the sky is position is projected onto this line is just set 3 m ascends entry into the various constellations can be marked on the line. the only digital signatures which are the most important moments of the

spring and fall equinox, is in the summer and winter solstice. is it the the decisive test wasn't 1581 connection. you know that there's, there's no record of this. but it said that pope gregory the 13th, came to this line on march 21st 15 by one to verify with his own eyes that this reform was necessary to the good. to click on that day, he observed the ray of sunlight falling through the occupants. 5.2 meters above the floor. according to, if not so dantes calculations, the spot of light should have been in the constellation of aires the delay. i mean, the sun was supposed to be at this position on the line at 12 noon that but it wasn't. indeed you have already moved on considerably. it was a good position. the 2 positions were 11 days of hard to think of any of this was

in fact the difference between the theoretical equinox and the actual equinox of the time. what's the typical best the calendar was performed the next year to compensate for the shift officials changed to leap years were calculated and short in the month of october. so pretty much the assembly struck 10 days from the calendar. the day after october, 5th, 1582 became october 15 miles of go council saunter type the presentation in the tower of the winds, or the gregorian tower only confirmed the earlier work of a scientific commission. but it staging symbolized at the pope's power. this hole would have far reaching consequences and the recording calendar would later dominate throughout the world century. the reform naturally spread to catholic congress 1st and it met with resistance and

protestant lands. in england, a gordon calendar was introduced in 1752 took place on russia, for example. it took until 1918 in saudi arabia was one of the last countries to adopted in 2016. on the research. everything that happened in the vatican was intentional. every work, every gesture had to demonstrate the churches greatness. and the same was true for the sistine chapel. only 200 meters from the gregorian tower. even before michelangelo arrived in the sitting chairs, it was already extraordinarily beautiful space. the chapel is a 40 meter long building, situated parallel to saint peter's cathedral. its architecture is like that of a military structure. the long before new popes were elected in these rooms.

the sistine chapel was a strategically important building. at any given time, there would be a litter team going on in that space. you would have the entire hierarchy of the church in one room. so the building was also constructed, so there was a certain amount of security for that reason. it was very easy to adapt to the function of the sistine chapel to that site where future pontiff would be elected before michaelangelo set to work the chapel had already been decorated by painters like better geno and bought the champion. michelangelo was asked to rework the ceiling to depict the 12 apostles. the commission was not ambitious enough for the uncompromising artist, the whole thing was crowned by

a magnificent lapis last july, blue sky flecked with golden star. but the sealy began to flake and this man who never does things the way other people do, begin to in vision a declaration that would be on like anything anyone had ever seen before. the project was both an artistic and a technical challenge. more than a 1000 square meters of surface had to be painted 20 meters above the floor. the architects, though not to bermonte, had already designed scaffolding. but michelangelo rejected it. it would have to be fast into the ceiling and would have left holes in his work. the, the wouldn't scaffolding that michelangelo designed was not suspended from the ceiling, but rested on tags placed above the windows of the chapel. the bridge on which the

artist worked, followed the curve of the ceiling. this may be extremely uncomfortable, work less strenuous. the bridge would allow him to always be at the same distance. so basically it's just an arm's length away. it's a painting, technically expired that he stand with his head thrown back and there were large prepared drawings of exactly what is going to go on that section. of the ceiling, it would be applied either in sized or punched out and that would guide the end while he was working for more than 3 years, michaelangelo, phone against muscle cramps, migraines and a stiff neck. he illustrated scenes from the bible, incorporating the ceiling bolts into his work and accomplished sculptor, he painted so organically that is figures seemed like like when he had finished

half the ceiling, the scaffolding was moved, so he could paint the other half, even seeing as unfinished work was like a revelation. it was hale this and master piece from the 1st moment, hopeless delighted, everyone is amazed by it. and it really, it affected art. in the immediate decades to come, michaelangelo made an exceptionally profound imprint on the sistine chapel. but his contribution to saint peter's basilica was just as unforgettable. the temper he designed inspired his successor de la portent, who placed the dome on top. bernini then took over his vatican architect and design the magnificent piazza in front of saint peter's basilica. but for the past 350 years, the architectural history of the vatican has been quieter. the available realist state and the world smells nation is after all, in short supply the so

a lot of imagination was needed to build an archive. the don't is actually the vatican up a style like archives are stored on the remarkable ag kilometers of shelves. that should there have been where can documents covering have a square kilometer of space be stored? what did these documents contain? and why would the archives set to be secrets for over 400 years? the answers to these questions lie in the court de la de la pena. this treasury protects a vast number of historical documents and files. the building of 5000 square meter, 2 story concrete bunker, not far from the vatican, museums was designed to withstand fires and to conduct damaging moisture to the outside. the.

the architects constructed an additional room on each floor for the most valuable and sensitive documents. the temperature and humidity in the special rooms are kept absolutely constant. after all, some of these documents are over 1000 years old. the big picture, the most popular documents date from the 13th century and are written in mongolian good. they are among the oldest extent, written documents. the files from the trial of galileo, galilee are also stored there and the documents for which luther was excommunicated in the 16th century. important documents from religious history and diplomatic vials are kept there. among the carefully guarded treasures is a report on the trial, the knights, templar, written on a 33 meter long parchments,

and this document from the 16th century is the petition of the english king henry the 8th. for the enrollment of his marriage, it bears the seals and signatures of $81.00 aristocrats less extensive documents, ordinary administrative files and diplomatic correspondence from all areas and countries are stored outside the special climate control rooms of the archive bunker. but the name vatican secret archives is misleading the, but the term that again secret archive which was used from the 17th century onwards, is derived from the latin terms separate us from netflix, which refers to the pope's personal archives and absolutely not disagree. contents of sorting of buttons and to avoid this confusion, co branch has changed the name from vatican secret archive students to vatican up

a solid archive in 20. 19. when the option i posted in the stomach archive was founded in the 17th century, and the original storage rooms are still in use today. the volume of documents is immense and growing daily. the underground archive bunker was built in 1982. it is a gold mine for historians, but is not accessible to everyone. the pope in office decides what can and cannot be viewed as hundreds isn't the archives we're open to researchers under pub, leo, to 13. at the end of the 19th century to scroll down to build, they don't, it is a rather ambivalent undertaking to open up to a historical scholarship on the one hand and to defend church history from attack on the other. through them is red from one papacy to the next. it is, the church has opened up more and more just showed me stuff. now the archives are

accessible up to 1958 the. the history of the vatican continues to be written day by day. and the most recent decades of its history have a special place on shelves behind, carefully locked grills. there they wait to be analyzed by historians many years from now. the vatican continues to hold tremendous fascination. it's a unique and secret place. its architecture is extraordinary. the buildings and works of art, bear witness to the deep belief in a christian god, but also to struggles for power, money, and prestige reason enough for you ness, go to declare the entire territory a vatican city, a world heritage site. the

being wife wing is not like an extraordinary thing, is actually just being normal, especially to defend our already them to the. so the germany gets back on track. why d done your opinions increasingly by to writing policy? we start out across europe to find on the focus on you in the 1st few minutes on dw, the

we did a compromise up on the right of teaching over choose your future cation of work. in 2024. ask them women step down with a ton of on demand better. right. so women of us can there's the sharp edge of stops much 7 done this morning at 1020. i went to a sick man's band 54 years old. he did everything he could to make me understand that i had to help him live because he has 2 children. he asked me to call claudia by searching his phone contact. to tell her, he wanted to say instead i had to tell county

a frank i was gone 5 years off because we remember window road stood still stops march 8th on dw, the this is dw, and hughes, and these around top stories, the c i a says the us has paused intelligence sharing with you crime relations between washington and key for main strain following fridays argument between the 2 countries. leaders in the oval office. despite this us national security advisor mike walls told the news outlet, the president trump would consider lifting the pause if key for to put forward what he called confidence building measures.