Vatican: Saint Peter's Basilica

Yesterday I got many postcards and many of them were from new countries.

Some of them were my first postcards from the Vatican. I sent all this postcards to me when I visited Rome last week.

The Vatican City State is a enclave in Rome and the smallest accepted state of the world (44 ha). The Head of State is the Pope, so at the moment Pope Francis. The Vatican City State arose from the Papal States and was founded in 1929 per the Lateran Treaty closed between Pope and Benito Mussolini.

One card shows the Saint Peter's Basilica. The Saint Peter's Basilica is 211m long, 186m wide, 132m high and in the basilica is enough space for 600,000 people. In 1506 Pope Julius II charged Donato Bramante with the construction of a new basilica on the place were Constantin built an old basilica on the grave of Saint Peter. Until the finishing 120 years passed and during this time many different popes brought forward their own ideas and so the best builder of Italy were involved to build the basilica. The Saint Peter's Basilica is as part of the Vatican City since 1984 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today there is the possibility to go nearly on the top of cupola and if you are there you have a great view on Rome.

Stamp:
700 Years of devotion to Our Lady of Europe (issued 10-02-2009)
(It is a joint issue with Gibraltar)