ABSTRACT
The Basilica of St. Peter's in the Vatican, with its century old existence, encompasses time and embodies the intellectual participation of numerous architects in the phenomena of change. A critical revisiting of the concept of body' to which the basilica's renovation is attuned might also add to our understanding of the notion of Renaissance renewal. The anthropomorphic model after which the built conservation of St. Peter's Basilica is modeled, is not just the human body per se but rather a corporate body' of theological significance and Zeuxian origin. An analysis of textual evidence and iconographic sources in Alfarano's work, together with observations of other significant literary and visual sources within the macrohistorical time frame of the renovation, allows a delineation of the cosmological time-dimension of the basilica. The Vatican Temple is a paradigmatic example of built conservation', entailing that memory is always in-the-making being representative of the phenomenon of multiple authorship in sempiternal time.
