Okay, here is a trivia for all of you. Did you know that OTWOMD is hinged on the fact that it’s creation in the cyberspace is hugely inspired by my dream to actually go to Rome and see the Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica? Hence, “On The Wings Of My Dream” with St. Peter’s Basilica on the previous header of my blog and currently on my “Featured Post” Background on the homepage. To visit and study in the eternal city is one of my dream but everything is still impossible as of this moment. Actually it would take a miracle for me to fulfill but who knows?

Anyhow, in my previous posts, I have written how each one can visit Lourdes, France via webcam to pray at the grotto visually as if you are there. This has been really a big help for me especially when praying for the sick and prayer intentions sent to me via email by my readers.

And then I also blogged about how one can also visit the tomb of Pope John Paul II at the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica also via Webcam. These two virtual pilgrimage has been a pleasure and comfort for those pilgrims who have no means to visit this site.

And now to my surprise, the Vatican again released a ground breaking internet technology called a virtual tour which allows internet users to go about 360 turns in all directions just using their mouse in viewing the interior of St. Peter’s Basilica and the exterior of the Piazza di San Pietro. The Virtual tour was just launched a few days ago by the Vatican authorities and after I found out I immediately went to the website and toured the Basilica for 4 hours.

Yes, the feeling was mixed. It is as if I was there. The tour is also accompanied by a goose bump- generating Gregorian chant that fills the whole experience with majesty and awe upon seing the fantastic art and history of the Catholic Faith passed and preserved for centuries.

The virtual tour can allow you to look every nook and cranny of a certain aspect of the basilica. You can zoom and zoom out on the same time, from floor to ceiling. Heck I was also able to read some of the Latin inscriptions carved on the w alls and statues inside the basilica.

The one who is responsible in this project is a team of faculty and students from Pennsylvania’s Villanova University who spent hours shooting hundreds of photos of the basilica and months digitally stitching them together so the Vatican could put a virtual tour of the world’s largest Christian church online. The virtual tour of St. Peter’s is the fifth Villanova project released by the Vatican.

I have screen captured my tour for you to have an idea of the experience:

The Pieta of Michaelangelo right after the entrance of the Basilica.

The Choir Chapel

The choir loft inside the Choir Chapel just on the left side of the Basilica where the “Castrados” sat centuries ago

The details of the angelic statues above the altar of the choir chapel. Fantastic details isn’t it?

The central nave: Very historical. This is where thousands of Bishops and Cardinal sat during the Second Vatican Council. This very same nave is the witness on how John Paul II courageously defended his take on the role of the Laity in the Church.

The Altar at the center and under Bernini’s Baldacchino. Under this altar is the entrance to the tomb of St. Peter also known as the Vatican Necropolis wherein numerous archeological evidence that traces back to the era of the early Christians were found recently. The history of the Vatican was also correct when archaeologist found directly under this altar the tomb of St. peter

One of my three favorite artwork inside the basilica, Bernini’s Baldacchino. Designed and created by Bernini himself, the baldacchino is a pavilion-like structure 30 metres (98 ft) tall and claimed to be the largest piece of bronze in the world, which stands beneath the dome and above the altar. Its design is based on the ciborium, of which there are many in the churches of Rome, serving to create a sort of holy space above and around the table on which the Sacrament is laid for the Eucharist and emphasizing the significance of this holy sacrament.

The details of the Baldacchino

This is St. Peter’s Cathedra under “Bernini’s Glory”. The art work highlight’s the huge bronze throne of St. Peter with four patristic fathers surrounding the throne with expressions of ecstasy that signifies the importance and glory of the Chair of St. Peter. The four massive bronze statues are  the four Doctors of the Church representing the Western and Eastern Churches: Sts. Ambrose and Augustine wearing miters, represents the Latin Church (West) and Sts. Atanasius and Chrysostom representing the Greek Church (East).

The fantastic sculpture of Bernini’s “Glory” with the Holy Spirit radiant in sunlight

The Piazza di San Pietro or St. Peter’s Square illuminated at night. Also included in the virtual tour.

After the virtual tour, it made me want to see the Glory of St. Peter’s Basilica all the more  in Person. Someday…

YOU CAN VIRTUALLY TOUR ST. PETER’S BASILICA HERE