Bernini's fountain with its four rivers referencing the breadth of the Roman Church was surmounted by an Egyptian obelisk, brought to Rome by the Emperor Domitian and moved here by Innocent X from the Circus Maxentius. The ...

Close up of the angel barring Christ's crown of thrones. Each of the angles carrying a symbol of Christ's Passion.

In the days of Paul V, when papal audiences were still held in the basilica, pilgrims awaited their opportunity for entrance within the Bernini colonnade.

While the iconography Bernini colonnade represents the embracing arms of mother Church, the obelisk has a symbol of idolatry, that is surmounted by a globe in turn surmounted by a cross, representing the triumph of ...

As Apollo is about to seize Daphne with ill intent, Bernini captures the dramatic moment as Daphne's wish to escape violation shows the moment of her wish being granted as she begins her transformation into the laurel tree.

In the center of the Piazza Navona is Bernini's famous fountain of the four rivers, surmounted by it's obelisk. To the left of the fountain is the Collegio and the church of Saint Agnese and the Palazzo Doria Pamphlij, all ...

Proserpina's face with open mouth and tears again show Bernini's mastery of his art.

As sculpted by Bernini in 1632 (for an excellent chronology see Rudolf Wittkower's book on Gian Lorenzo Bernini, pages 275-76).

The elephant as a symbol of strength holds the then recently discovered obelisk which was from Roman times a trophy of conquest and here, as in the Santra Pedro Piazza, it is surmounted by a cross which symbolizes the ...