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Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's | 
 enlarge | Author: R. A. Scotti
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $7.27
You Save: $18.68 (72%)
New (12) Used (15) from $6.13
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 95415
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.4
Dewey Decimal Number: 726.50945634
ASIN: B000OFOIWW
Publication Date: June 8, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Out of the clash of genius and the caprice of popes came the most glorious monument of the Renaissance
It was the splendorand the scandalof the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europethe millenniumold St. Peters Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostles graveto build a better basilica. Construction of the new St. Peters spanned two centuries, embroiled twenty-seven popes, and consumed the genius of the greatest artists of the ageMichelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, and Bernini. As the basilica rose, modern Rome rose with it as glorious as the city of the Caesars. But the cost was unimaginable. The new basilica provoked the Protestant Reformation, dividing the Christian world for all time. In this swift, colorful narrative, R. A. Scotti brings to life the artists and the popes, the politics and the passions behind this audacious enterprise. Gothic cathedrals reach up to heaven, but the basilica brings heaven to earth, and the new St. Peters was the defining event of the high Renaissance. In the tradition of Brunelleschis Dome, Scotti turns sacred architecture into a spellbinding human epic of enormous daring, petty jealousy, and staggering genius.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 For what it is worth June 27, 2008
As long as you don't approach the book expecting a definitive summary of 150 years of church history, it's an entertaining and fascinating read. I enjoyed the personal portraits of the characters in the book. It's the first book I read in Kindle, and I suspect I might have enjoyed the printed diagrams of the basilica more than the digital version, which I found difficult to read and impossible to enlarge.
A real page turner April 27, 2008
This book was more than I had hoped for, and it made a very easy read. I couldn't put it down and hated for it to end. I will buy more books from this author.
 Basilica April 5, 2008
I am disappointed in this book. The author's scattershot presentation of a subject that should be fascinating leaves this reader longing for either a scholarly approach or a personal one. This book tries to mix the two.
Why it took more than 150 years to build St Peter's March 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book might better be termed an "epic" as opposed to a mere history, since it is a kind of saga in architecture that is as action packed as any in the history of art. First of all there is the cast of characters: Pope Julius II, Michaelangelo, Agostino Chigi (banker to the pope) Raphael, Bramante, Leo X, Paul III, Sixtus V, Paul V, Urban VIII, and finally Bernini. Any tale that packs in these powerful personalities is bound to frought with conflict and conflict there is. What is perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is just how the idea of what St Peters would become changed over time depending upon a variety of factors, mainly human ones. Scotti is not able to show us just the splender and scandal, but the changes in design that caused St Peter's to be one of the most expensive buildings ever to construct.
The expense associated with the building was met by the sale of indulgences which as most people know led to the Protestant Reformation. It is rare that a building can change history before it is even built, but it happened and Scotti lays it all out for the reader in a very becoming manner.
While this book does not shed any new light on the building of St Peters and many of the events have been recounted elsewhere, I do not think that the entire story has ever been presented in a more entertaining manner. Scotti knows how to tell a story and tell it well. If you are planning a trip to Rome or have been to Rome, this book will be an eye-opener.
The inside story! March 8, 2008
This is a chatty, informative and thoroughly researched book about the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. It gives a wonderful insight into the lives of the popes, the artists and the architects of the largest church in the world. I learned a lot and it was a great read.
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