Crying poverty
Its museums are crammed with priceless works of art and wealth pours in from the Catholic faithful around the world, but even the Vatican is feeling the pinch of austerity.
ITS museums are crammed with priceless works of art and its wealth pours in from the Catholic faithful around the world, but even the Vatican is feeling the pinch of austerity.
The Holy See is taking the unprecedented step of issuing a limited edition of special papal stamps to try to raise money for the €14 million (NZ$22m) restoration of the magnificent colonnades that embrace St Peter’s Square.
The initiative is designed to fill a spending gap, as the corporate sponsors of the restoration work, which started three years ago, trim their budgets in response to the economic crisis.
It is hoped that the sale of the stamps will raise up to €3m to fund the cleaning and restoring of the 17th century colonnades, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the leading sculptor of his age and a noted architect.
The double colonnades, described by Bernini as ‘‘the motherly arms of the Church’’, consist of 284 columns, 140 statues of saints, 1200 metres of balustrade and six papal coats of arms. The keyhole shape of the space underlined the idea of St Peter as the gatekeeper to Heaven.
The Vatican is to issue two stamps – one with the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI and the other the seal of Pope Alexander VII, the pontiff who commissioned Bernini to undertake the work in 1656.
The stamps, each worth €10, will be affixed to a certificate that will cost €20.
It can be personalised with the name of the person who bought it or embossed with the Latin inscription ‘‘Officium Philatelicum et Nomismaticum’’ – the Vatican’s Philatelic and Numismatic Office, which sells commemorative coins and stamps.
The Holy See is planning a print run of 144,000 certificates.
Mauro Olivieri, the head of the philatelic office, said the work done until now, mostly on the right-hand colonnade, had been thanks to commercial sponsors.
‘‘Now, though, with the continuation of the economic crisis that is affecting industry and both public and private companies, it’s harder to find sponsorship to pay for the costs of the project,’’ said Olivieri.
‘‘The initiative came from the Vatican administration.
‘‘They asked all the departments to come up with suggestions and proposals to find the necessary funds. This was our contribution.’’
The Bernini colonnades consist of 284 Doric columns, arranged in four rows, which lead to two covered wings on either side of the basilica.
The 140 statues on top of the colonnades represent saints, and were sculpted between the 1660s and early 1700s.
Money is also needed to clean and maintain the two fountains in the cobbled piazza and a tall, 4000-year-old Egyptian obelisk, which was taken from Heliopolis in AD 37 by Caligula, the notorious Roman emperor.
In St Peter’s Square, a small red porphyry stone set into the pavement marks the exact spot where John Paul II was shot in May 1981 during a failed assassination attempt.
It had been hoped the restoration work could be completed by next year, but Vatican officials now say it will last until 2015.
Telegraph Group