12 Architects of St.

Peter’s Basilica

First Architect:

DONATO BRAMANTE

- The First Architect. He proposed a Greek Cross Plan, the dome slighty larger than the
Pantheon.
- Greek cross with a dome similar to pantheon
Second Architect:

GUILIANO DA SANGALLO

- He strengthened and extended the peristyle of Bramante into a series of arched and ordered
openings around the base.

Third Architect:

FRA GIOVANI GIOCONDO

- He works on how to strengthen the foundation of the building.

Forth Architect:

RAPHAEL SANZIO or RAFAEL SANZIO

- Latin Cross Plan

- He proposed a Roman Cross Plan, with a short pronaos and a facade

Fifth Architect:

BALDASSARE PERUZZI

- Reverted to Greek Plan

- He maintained the changes that Rafael had proposed to the internal arrangement of the three
main apse, but otherwise reverted to the Greek Cross Plan and other feature of Bramante.
Sixth Architect:

ANTONIO DA SANGALLO (The Younger)

- Submitted a plan which combines features of Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante in its design
and extends the building into a short nave with a wide façade and portico of dynamic
projection. Main practical contribution was to strengthen Bramante’s piers which had
begun to crack

Seventh Architect:

MICHAELANGELO BOUNAROTTI or BUONARROTI

- Dome
- He reverted to Bramante’s original design, and converted its snowflakes complexity into
massive, cohesive unity. He also designed the dome and many mores

Eighth Architect:

GIACOMO DELLA PORTA

- He subsequently altered Michaelangelo’s design by adding of lion’s masks over the swags
on the drum in honor of Pope Sixtus and adding a circlet of finials around the spire at the top
of the lantern, as proposed by Sangallo. Also proposed to raise the outer dome higher above
the inner one.

Ninth Architect:

DOMENICO FONTANA or DOMINICO

- Fontana and Della Porta completed the dome in 1950 and he added two-stage lantern
capped with a spire.

Tenth Architect:

DIACOMO DA VIGNOLA or JACOPO BAROZZI DA VIGNOLA

- Appointed by Pope Pius V as a watchdog to make sure that Michaelangelo’s plans were
carried out exactly. He added side cupola
Eleventh Architect:

CARLO MADERNA or CARLO MADERNO

- Lengthened nave to form Latin cross

- Gigantic façade
- He made the most significant contribution since Michaelangelo, because he pulled down the
remaining parts of Old St. Peter’s and proceeded to transform Micahelangelo’s centralixed
Greek Cross design into Latin Cross with a long nave. He designed the façade.

Twelfth Architect:

GIAN LORENZO BERNINI

- Baldachino
- Erected noble entrance piazza (198m wide)
- Completed plan in a Latin cross
- Bernini’s contribution were many and brilliant, some of it are baldachino, the Chapel of the
Sacrement, the plan of the niches and loggias of the piers of the dome, the chair of the
St. Peter and the magnificent colonnade outside the Basilica.