Donato Bramante designed the original plan for the new Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1506.
Pope Julius II began rebuilding the old Constantinian basilica, and Bramante’s plan was selected for the project. His design emphasized a Greek-cross layout with a large central dome, reflecting Renaissance interest in centralized geometric forms and classical architecture. Construction began in 1506, but the building changed substantially as later architects revised the project.
Bramante did not complete the basilica. After his death in 1514, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, and others shaped its evolving design. Michelangelo’s later work on the dome became especially influential, but credit for the original rebuilding plan belongs to Bramante. The present church was consecrated in 1626, more than a century after construction began.