La Mostra    1500

Portrait of Alexander VI

The institution of a specific ritual for opening and closing the Holy Door dates back to the Jubilee of 1500 and Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). The ceremony remained unchanged until 1975, when Paul VI simplified several aspects.

N. F. Mathey, Alexander VI pont. max., in: Alexander Gordon, La vie du Pape Alexandre VI. et de son fils Cesar Borgia..., vol. I, Amsterdam 1751

Bull of indiction for the Jubilee of 1500, Inter curas multiplices (20 December 1499)

Alexander VI, Inter curas multiplices (20 dicembre 1499), in: Iohannes Burckardus, Johannis Burckardi Liber notarum ab anno MCCCCLXXXIII usque ad annum MDVI, edited by Enrico Celani, vol. II, Città di Castello 1910

Giovanni Burcardo

Master of Ceremonies to Alexander VI, German-born Johannes Burckard played a key role in designing the Holy Door ritual for the Jubilee of 1500, as it was to remain. Our knowledge of all of the details of how the rite was conducted is based on his book Liber notarum

Iohannes Burckardus, Johannis Burckardi Liber notarum ab anno MCCCCLXXXIII usque ad annum MDVI, edited by Enrico Celani, vol. II, Città di Castello 1910

Rites of opening and closing of the Holy door of St. Paul's for the Jubilee of 1675

Claude Boizot, Ad astra reclusa ostendit per mella viam, in: Casimir Freschot, Series eorum quae in aperitione et obseratione portae sanctae Basilicae divi Pauli ab... Francisco cardinali Barberino... ritu sacro peracta sunt anno iubilaei M.DC.LXXV..., Roma 1676

The Jubilee of 1500 as chronicled by Sigismondo dei Conti di Segni

Sigismondo dei Conti di Segni, born in Foligno (1432), lived in Rome from 1460 in the service of a number of pontiffs. He was highly familiar with the city and the Curia, where he essentially based his “Storie”. In his description of Alexander VI’s Jubilee, (not without polemic) he recounts the opening of the doors in the four basilicas and the solemn rite for opening the door at Saint Peter’s, celebrated personally by the Pope

Sigismondo dei Conti, Le storie de' suoi tempi dal 1475 al 1510..., vol. II, Roma 1883

Bakers Guild

Statuti dell'università et arte de fornari e panettieri dell'alma città di Roma, ms. sec. XVII

Aerial view of St Peter's and the old Borgo neighbourhood

In 1500, when Borgo Nuovo was opened, it left behind what became known as the Borgo spina: a group of buildings in line with Piazza Scossacavalli that ended up stranded between Borgo Vecchio and Via Alessandrina, in the area of modern-day Via della Conciliazione, creating a kind of spine which, from Carlo Fontana’s seventeenth-century project onwards, was earmarked for demolition.

La Basilica di San Pietro e il Vaticano da un dirigibile, in: L'illustrazione italiana, a. XLIX, n. 11, 12 March 1922

John Paul II, during the Jubilee of 2000, opens the Holy door of the Basilica of St. Paul's outside the walls along with the representatives of the various Christian churches

Starting in 1500, when Alexander VI initiated the Holy Year ceremonial, including the ritual of opening the Holy Door in all four basilicas, the Holy Door at St Paul’s was always opened by a Cardinal Legate. In 2000, Pope John Paul II became the first pope in Holy Year history to personally open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St Paul’s.

Da questa Basilica io spingo avanti lo sguardo verso il nuovo millennio: in un futuro non lontano i cristiani, finalmente riconciliati, possano tornare a camminare insieme come unico popolo,in: L'osservatore romano, a. CXL, n. 14, 19 January 2000

Alexander VI (1492-1503), bronze medal commemorative of the Holy Year 1500 (obverse)

Mazio 28 (fig. Medaglie Mazio 18-028 B)

Alexander VI (1492-1503), bronze medal commemorative of the Holy Year 1500 (reverse)

Mazio 28 (fig. Medaglie Mazio 18-028 B)