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๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ โข ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ & ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ
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St. Peterโs is probably the most famous church in Christendom. Massive in scale and a veritable museum of art and architecture, it began on a much humbler scale. Vatican Hill was a simple cemetery where believers gathered at Saint Peterโs tomb to pray. In 319, Constantine built a basilica on the site that stood for more than a thousand years until, despite numerous restorations, it threatened to collapse. In 1506, Pope Julius II ordered it razed and reconstructed, but the new basilica was not completed and dedicated for more than two centuries.
St. Paulโs Outside-the-Walls stands near the Abaazia delle Tre Fontane, where Saint Paul is believed to have been beheaded. The largest church in Rome until St. Peterโs was rebuilt, the basilica also rises over the traditional site of its namesakeโs grave. The most recent edifice was constructed after a fire in 1823. The first basilica was also Constantineโs doing.
Constantineโs building projects enticed the first of a centuries-long parade of pilgrims to Rome. From the time the basilicas were first built until the empire crumbled under โbarbarianโ invasions, the two churches, although miles apart, were linked by a roofed colonnade of marble columns.
