Which European capital contains St. Peter’s Basilica, consecrated in 1626?

Vatican City is the European capital that contains St. Peter’s Basilica, consecrated in 1626.

The basilica stands in Vatican City, the world’s smallest independent country and the spiritual center of the Catholic Church. It occupies the traditional site where Saint Peter, one of Jesus’s apostles, is believed to have been buried.

Construction of the present basilica began in 1506 during the papacy of Julius II and continued for more than a century. Major architects included Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Pope Urban VIII consecrated the completed church on 18 November 1626.

St. Peter’s Basilica is often confused with Rome’s cathedral, but Rome’s cathedral is the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. The basilica’s famous dome was designed principally by Michelangelo, while Bernini created the sweeping colonnade in St. Peter’s Square.