But the dome I contemplate
today is anything but
primitive. It represents a
pinnacle of civilization,
the building it surmounts
designed and executed over
generations, by a succession
of the greatest architects
of all time: Bramante,
Michelangelo, and Bernini,
among others. I am speaking
of the dome of St. Peter's
Basilica in Vatican City. The
American Transcendental
philosopher, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, extolled St. Peter's
as "an ornament of the
earth…the sublime of the
beautiful." I can but agree.
Viewing a hierarchy of domes
is a delight: St. Peter's is
the apex. Numerous smaller
domes above the side
aisles, each spectacular,
lead first to the main chancel
which straddles Bernini's
baldacchino and the altar
below, all beneath the mother
of all domes dedicated to
faith. Its lantern is both a
HYLAND
