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Private Tours of the Vatican Museums

The Prince of the Apostles!

7/7/2019

 
Private Tours of the Vatican Museums
Inscription to Pope Paul V, Facade of St Peter's Basilica, Rome
Inscription to Pope Paul V

Emblazoned across the facade of St Peter's Basilica, in letters one metre high, is an inscription: IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII (In honour of the Prince of Apostles, Paul V, Borghese, Roman, Pontifex Maximus, the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate). 

The facade was built for Pope Paul V (r. 1605-21) by Carlo Maderno (1556-1629) between 1607 and 1614. 

No sooner had the inscription been unveiled, than some wags began to remark that they'd had no idea that Paul V was an apostle!  

St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome
St Peter's Basilica

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    Blogging about the Vatican 

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England.

    Since 200I I have been living in Italy, where I run
    ​ private tours of Florence, Rome &
    Venice.

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  • Private Tours
    • Private Tours of Rome
    • Private Tours of Florence
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  • Contact
  • Rome
  • Vatican
  • Florence
  • Venice
  • Tuscany
  • Gallery
  • Year in Art