Busacca Gallery

A wonderful 18th-century engraving of the Vatican, this rare folded book insert showcases an illustrated view of St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Rome. It features a remarkable aerial perspective of the basilica, the grand elliptical piazza, and the surrounding colonnades—an exceptional example of early architectural engraving. The Vatican’s history stretches back nearly two thousand years, rooted in the site where St. Peter—the apostle and first pope—was believed to be buried after his martyrdom in the 1st century AD. By the 4th century, Emperor Constantine built the first St. Peter’s Basilica over his tomb, establishing the area as a sacred center of Christianity. Over time, the Vatican grew into the spiritual and administrative heart of the Catholic Church. The Renaissance transformed it further, with popes commissioning masters like Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante to create the grand basilica, Vatican Museums, and Sistine Chapel we know today. In 1929, the Lateran Treaty formally recognized Vatican City as an independent sovereign state, making it the world’s smallest nation and the enduring seat of the papacy.

Even before the arrival of Christianity, it is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome (the ager vaticanus) had long been considered sacred, or at least not available for habitation. A shrine dedicated to the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis remained active long after the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter was built nearby. The Vatican Obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt to decorate the spina of his circus and is thus its last visible remnant. This area became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down. The Constantinian basilica was built in 326 over what was believed to be the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in that cemetery.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City

Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is an independent city–state enclaved within Rome, Italy. Established with the Lateran Treaty (1929), it is distinct from yet under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes). With an area of 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of about 1,000, it is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population.