One hundred and forty statues line the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square.
The statues crown the sweeping colonnades designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the piazza outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. They depict saints and stand above the columns, creating a visual procession around the elliptical square. The figures are larger than life-size so they remain legible from the ground.
Bernini’s colonnades were built during the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII, with construction taking place principally from 1656 to 1667. Their curving arms were intended to embrace visitors and guide them toward the basilica, turning the approach into a dramatic Baroque experience.
The 140 figure count is sometimes confused with the square’s much larger total of architectural supports: the colonnades contain 248 columns and 88 pilasters. The statues are therefore not a count of columns, fountains, or all sculpture in the wider Vatican complex; it refers specifically to the saint statues positioned along the colonnade’s upper balustrade.