Inside Vatican City, is the world famous, St. Peter’s Basilica. Inside the Basilica resides a stunning alter known as St. Peter’s Baldachin. Designed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, it was intended to mark the place of St. Peter’s tomb underneath. Under its canopy is the high altar of the basilica. Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, the work began in 1623 and ended in 1634. The bronze and gilded baldachin was the first of Bernini’s works to combine sculpture and architecture and represents an important development in Baroque church in