April 18th, 1506 saw the beginning of the end for the 1200-year-old St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican Hill in Rome. For on this day, under the supervision of chief architect Donato Bramante, the foundation stone was laid for a new St. Peter's Cathedral. In a sequence of bitter power struggles, shattering defeats and glorious triumphs Bramante, Sangallo, Rafael, Michelangelo, Maderno and Bernini created this world-famous center of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation might well have taken quite a different course without this building. Like a huge precious shell the dome envelops the humble tomb, buried within its depths, is the Apostle Peter, appointed by Jesus to bear responsibility for the Christian faith.

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