Vatican City State • 360° Aerial Panorama
This panorama can be opened in several different resolutions. High resolution panorama with the best quality is about 7 Mb large and it is suitable for fast internet connections and modern computers. For slower internet and old weak computers we created the smaller low resolution panorama. Some small details have been sacrificed but the size of low resolution panorama is nomore than 2 Mb. |
Open Aerial Panorama (high resolution) |
| Tweet |
Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world with a total area of 0.44 square kilometers and the total length of the state border of 3 kilometers.
The "border" is quite symbolic. It's a white line on the pavement along the outer perimeter of St. Peter's Square and the defense wall built in the XVI century to prevent trespassing. Actually, this type of wall surrounds any monastery or a bastion. Vatican has neither border guards nor passport control, but it has a certain dress code. Since Vatican is a religious country, visitors are supposed be dressed appropriately (no shorts or cleavage). However in general, Vatican and its majestic monuments belong to a long list of Rome landmarks.
Vatican has almost two thousand years of history. Mons Vaticanus hill was here in the past; the name is translated from Latin as "the place of divination." It was considered sacred in ancient Rome. The Circus of Nero was built here, a place where the ruthless emperor tortured his victims. Also, it was in this circus that Saint Peter met his death. In 326 A.C., when Christianity came to this land, Constantinian Basilica was built atop of alleged tomb of Saint Peter, which gave start to Papal State.
It rapidly expanded, and by the end of XIX century it occupied most of the Apennine peninsula. In 1870 the Kingdom of Italy seized the papal lands. At that time the Pope locked himself in the Vatican Hill, declaring himself a prisoner. It took six decades to settle the political confrontation between the Italian Government and the Papacy. So in 1929 Vatican City State became a sovereign territory of the Holy See.
Despite its small territory, Vatican City has fabulous treasures. The treasures have accumulated gradually, and over time this collection has grown so much that now it requires separate museums. So today the main Vatican landmarks contain priceless works of art, created by famous artists and sculptors.
Famous St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City is more than just a tourist attraction. It's the heart of the country, a symbol of Catholicism and, until recently, the largest Christian church in the world. It employed several generations of great artisans, including Raphael and Michelangelo.
The church has the internal floor area 15160 square meters (with total area about 23000 square meters). Its height is 133 meters and length is 211.5 meters (with portico). The dome sits on top of four heavy pillars; it has an inner height of 119 meters and 42 meters in diameter. St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City has given up its first place only recently. In 1990 a church in the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, an African country, surpassed it in size. But even this largest Christian church was built after St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City!
And of course, we should mention the giant Cathedral Square, which was built to accommodate maximum number of believers. It's a world masterpiece of urban planning. It has monumental fountains and an obelisk, which contains pieces of the Holy Cross. At nighttime the square is illuminated, creating a special atmosphere in this sacred place.
Of course, Vatican City is more than just a church, the square, and museums. Over a half of the city-state territory is filled with gardens established during Renaissance and Baroque era by order of the Pope. Most of the gardens are well maintained, but there are wild areas with dense thickets of oak, cypress and other wild trees. There are bats, snakes, rabbits, and birds in the gardens! As well as Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pius IV villa decorated with mosaics, palaces, towers, college, and the Vatican Railway: cleanest and most un-crowded train station in the world.
These (and many more) parts of Vatican City are not open for tourists. However, now you can see them on our aerial panoramas.
Photography by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitriy Moiseenko
Comments
5 from 5"I would like to embed several panoramas in a forum by using html code . That's why I need to stop autostart for the sound. Does someone know the code for SoundOff at start? Thanks a lot!"
M Ц, Sweden
5 from 5"if we can able to see 360 view is too good , and thanks"
selvin christopher, India
4 from 5"super"
selvin christopher, India
5 from 5anne isakson, USA
5 from 5"Thanks to those who give us the chance to visit such marvellous scenery while we are sitting in our armchair. Keep on, you deserve a nobel price of information."
Jean MUSSY, France
5 from 5"Thanx a lot to the Panorama, that we can see/enjoy the places which are not allowed to see the visitors, who go to the such a big and famous place in the world."
Dinesh Sharma, India
5 from 5"Just GREAT the idea, music, pictures, like at home... And my home I like most!"
Peter H. Berthold, Germany
"very very very good thanks"
samaneh ghorbani, Iran
1 from 5"thanks for you"
raad ali, Iraq
5 from 5"Uau!!lindo!maravilhoso!ф glуria!!DEUS Й MARAVILHOSO!PRA QUEM NГO PODE IR A ROMA (EU),ROMA VEM ATЙ NУS!MAGNIFICAT!!!!OBRIGADUUUUUUUUUUUU!!DEUS CONTINUE ABENЗOANDO ESSE MUNDГOOOOOOOOOOO!!BJS!!AMEI, AMEI, AMEI!!!!"
ivani freitas, Brazil
5 from 5"God Bless."
John Herbert, Ireland
5 from 5"Wow... i have been there 2 times, but not this way :) SUPER job you do and share with the world, a reborn and different "Family Of Man" by Edward Steichen. GO on!"
Stefan Schiermeyer, Germany
"FORMIDABLE CALIDAD ! ADELANTE, SON LOS MEJORES,.como siempre gracias."
German Porras, USA
5 from 5"Thank you very much, very good job. Wonderful. Vatican is the great place. God bless you."
Tom Holan, Czech Republic
5 from 5"Awesome thanks you for a wonderful day, we wll be frequent visitors"
Antony &Morita Cesonis-Dixon, Canada
5 from 5"Very awesome 360 degree airpano It looks like almost real. This virtual world website"
Indraneel Das, India
5 from 5yaser hassanzadeh, Iran
"Nice but unlivable city: dirty, chaotic and with arrogant and ignorant people everywhere."
Andrea Bergognone, Ireland
5 from 5"Awesome"
Loganathan s, India
5 from 5"Unbelievable! Thank you!"
Barbara Baugh, USA
5 from 5"Divin place and monuments. St.Peter's Basilica interior is wonderful. Excellent your creativity and publishing. Thanks !"
PASCU IOAN, Romania
5 from 5"Excellent creativity and publishing, Excelent job and million thanks"
Killer Techi, India
5 from 5"GREAT, VERY WONDERFUL"
Michael Kwao, Ghana
4 from 5"Breathtaking! thanx so much"
Olga Hlongwane, South Africa
5 from 5"Wonderful! thanks"
TH Nguyen, Canada
4 from 5"I always wanted to visit the Vatican..This panorama is the next best thing..Thank you very much"
Joseph Edward Lee, Canada
5 from 5"Awesome, magnificent, words really failed me. Thank you and congratulations guys from me and the rest who are given the chance to view these fantastic places without leaving our houses. Hope to see more in the future. God bless"
Linda Limpo, United Kingdom
5 from 5"thanks for sharing.its fantastic.thanks again!!"
jesse abrigo, Philippines
5 from 5"Incrнvel!!!!"
Paulo Rattes, Brazil
5 from 5"Outstanding! The viewing of this pictorial (especially the interior) with the song & singing by Celine Dion of Ave Maria is "spine tingling". Thank you, thank you so very,very much for this panorama."
Ed Nelson, USA
5 from 5"Astonishing!!"
Pradeep Kaushik, India
5 from 5"more than excelent"
samt loutfy, Egypt
5 from 5"wonderful -"
mohamed eleish, Egypt
5 from 5"Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic! Once again it brought back the beautiful memories of the wonderful trip that my dear mother and I had made to The Vatican, during our trip to Istanbul and Rome. Thank you very much for reviving those beautiful memories. God Bless."
Fren Bill, India
5 from 5"wonderful. This site gives very good information of important things in the world"
Venkateswarlu Badathala, India
5 from 5"Another masterpiece! Great work. I am a big fan of your work. One little tip for a 1st time visitor they might not realize that by clicking onto 1 of the helicopters that they get a different perspective.Perhaps a little note saying where to click, ie. the person in order to enter. Thanks for sharing.Regards."
johannes maurits, Mexico
5 from 5"I feel as I`m with all those saint people!"
danica cvetkovska, Macedonia
5 from 5"Wonderful ! Thanks ."
Michael O'Sullivan, USA
| Top |
