Whether you are a seasoned traveller or a beginner, you will probably never see a church as magnificent as the Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican City. This beautiful church is one of the biggest in the world and is considered one of the holiest places in Rome.

The original church was built in 324, commissioned by Emperor Constantine and built over the shrine marking the burial place of the martyred St Peter. St Peter, who has one of the Apostles and considered as the 1st pope, was crucified head-down (at his request, as he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ). Many popes were buried in the basilica between the 4th and 15th centuries.

During the years that the papal seat was located in Avignon, France, the Old Basilica fell into disrepair. In 1505 Pope Julius II decided to have the church demolished and a new one built that would house his tomb, which was enormous. Over the next 120 years a lot of popes and architects worked on the plans and the basilica grew and grew.

Among the architects were Bramante, Bernini and Michelangelo, who designed the famous dome, which is 42 metres in diameter and 120 metres high. Around the inside of the dome is an inscription which in English reads: “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”.

The interior of the church is a monument to Late Renaissance design. Vast and richly decorated, you can admire monuments and altars dedicated to numerous kings and popes. Here, you will find Michelangelo’s “La Pieta” and over 39 statues of saints. In the nave is a circular slab of Imperial Porphyry where Holy Roman Emperors knelt during their coronation.

In the crypt you can see the remains of the early churches that stood on this site. There are also the tombs of many popes, including that of Pope Jean Paul II.

Everyone always associates obelisks with Egypt, but today there are more of these slender monuments in Rome than anywhere else in the world, with eight ancient Egyptian ones and five ancient Roman ones.

These monuments were raised usually as a single block in front of pyramids or Egyptian temples and they symbolised the sun god Ra. Ancient Romans often dedicated their to their current ruling emperor; these weren’t adorned with hieroglyphics.

The obelisk that stands in St Peter’s Square was brought from Egypt to Rome by the Emperor Caligula in 37AD and he had it set up in the centre of his circus (later known as the Circus of Nero). Transporting obelisks was a difficult process and huge boats – “obelisk boats” – were specially constructed to carry them.

When Sixtus V became pope, he was determined to move the obelisk to the centre of what was to become St Peter’s Square. The move was orchestrated by the architect and engineer Domenico Fontana, Giacomo della Porta’s assistant during the construction of the basilica. It took three weeks to move the monument on rollers and forty-seven cranes, 140 carthorses and over 1000 men to set it up in its new home.

At one time a bronze globe, believed to contain the ashes of Julius Cesar, topped the obelisk, but Pope Sixtus V replaced it with his symbol of three mountains topped by a star.

Saint Peter’s Square is the most famous square in the world. It is also an architectural and engineering masterpiece and no visitor to Rome should miss visiting it.

The square was redesigned between 1657 and 1667 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was already working on the Basilica. Pope Alexander VII wanted the piazza in front of St Peter’s Basilica to be a place where everyone could see him, but not too grand to distract from the Basilica itself.

Bernini designed the square to be partially surrounded by curved and covered colonnades, 196 metres wide and 148 metres long. The colonnades are supported by 284 Doric style columns set in four rows. On top of each colonnade are statues of various martyrs and saints.

Pope Sixtus V had the obelisk in the centre of the square was moved here from the Circus of Nero in 1586 by Domenico Fontana. In 1817 circular stones were laid to mark the shadow of the obelisk’s tip at noon.

The cobblestone paving is broken up by travertine lines radiating out from the obelisk. At each end of the colonnades stands a fountain; one was built by Carlo Maderno in 1614, the other by Bernini in 1667. Between each fountain and the obelisk you will see a round slab of porphyry. If you stand on one of these slabs and look at the columns, you will be struck by a startling optical illusion: it seems that there is only one row of columns instead of four!

The square is the focal point of pilgrimages and over 300,000 people gather here every year to hear the Pope’s Easter speech. Three flights of steps lead from the square to the Basilica.

Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture, evocative of Solomon's Temple of the Old Testament, and its decoration which has been frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope's need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, are widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievements in painting. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored the old Cappella Magna between 1477 and 1480. Since the time of Sixtus IV, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new Pope is selected.

The Cappella Paolina is a chapel in the Vatican Palace separated from the Sistine Chapel by the Sala Regia (Regal Room).

This beautiful chapel was designed in 1538 by Antonio de Sangallo the Younger, commissioned by Pope Paul II. It was used as the Chapel of the Concave and the Chapel of the Sacrament.

There was never any question in the pope’s mind as to which master artist would execute the chapel’s frescoes. He wanted Michelangelo, but the artist was over 60, tired and already trying to finish the tomb of Pope Julius II – a commission for which he had already been paid. The pope insisted and Michelangelo felt he had no choice but to agree.

The two frescoes he painted, “The Crucifixion of St Peter” and “The Conversion of Saul”, weren’t considered his best works, and possibly the pressure he had been under to paint them showed in his work. His “Saul”, who had been a young man in his early thirties at the time of his conversion, is represented as an old man, white haired and world weary, which was perhaps a reflection of Michelangelo himself.

Other paintings in the chapel are by Lorenzo Sabbatini and Federico Zuccari. The statues and stuccowork are by Prospero Bresciano.

The Vatican Museums on Viale Vaticano are a collection of galleries that house the biggest display of art in the world, built up over the centuries by the Roman Catholic Church. You really shouldn’t miss this important collection of Renaissance Art and classical statues.

The collection was founded by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century, when he bought the white marble statue of Laocoon and his sons being attacked by sea serpents from a vineyard owner who found the magnificent sculpture buried in one of his fields. Over the centuries a lot of rich people left paintings and sculptures to the Church and many of the popes following Julius II bought paintings from great artists of their time.

Although some of the paintings had been commissioned, it must be remembered that the Church had a vast fortune and could afford to buy works of art, so artists such as Bernini, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, if they wanted to make a living, spent a lot of time on religious themes.

The collection was housed in the Borgia Apartment of the Vatican Palace until Pope Pius XI commissioned Luca Beltrani to build a suitable building for it.

The 53 galleries are truly breath-taking, with works by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and Raphael, and a section of Modern Religious Art where you can admire paintings by Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà among others.

Included in the tour is a visit to the Stanze della Segnatura with its beautiful frescoes by Raphael and the Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo attract over 4 million visitors a year.