The Earth Was So Raised As To Cover Part Of The Temple, And
There Was A Descent Of Some Steps Into The Porch:
But that
pontiff ordered the ground to be pared away to the very pedestal
or base of the portico, which is now even with the street, so
that there is no descent whatsoever.
The height is two hundred
palmi, and the breadth two hundred and eighteen; which, reckoning
fife palmi at nine inches, will bring the height to one hundred
and fifty, and the breadth to one hundred and sixty-three feet
six inches. It was not any covering of copper which pope Urban
VIII. removed, but large brass beams, which supported the roof of
the portico. They weighed 186,392 pounds; and afforded metal
enough not only for the pillars in St. Peter's church, but also
for several pieces of artillery that are now in the castle of St.
Angelo. What is more extraordinary, the gilding of those columns
is said to have cost forty thousand golden crowns: sure money was
never worse laid out. Urban VIII. likewise added two bellfrey
towers to the rotunda; and I wonder he did not cover the central
hole with glass, as it must be very inconvenient and disagreeable
to those who go to church below, to be exposed to the rain in wet
weather, which must also render it very damp and unwholesome. I
visited it several times, and each time it looked more and more
gloomy and sepulchral.
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