The Vatican Obelisk is a massive red granite monolith, brought from Heliopolis, Egypt, to Rome in the first century by Emperor Caligula. He placed it in the Circus of Nero, where early Christians, including Peter, were believed to have been martyred. Unlike many other Egyptian obelisks in Rome, it has no inscriptions and is the only one that has never toppled. In 1586 Pope Sixtus V had it moved to the centre of St. Peter’s Square, a huge engineering feat overseen by Domenico Fontana, and a cross was added on top to give it a Christian meaning. Though the obelisk itself stands at about 25.3 metres, its total height, including the base and cross, reaches nearly 40 metres. It serves as the focal point of the square and as a powerful symbol of continuity from the ancient world to the Christian era. Inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the Baptistry Chapel houses the great baptismal font and the depiction of the baptism of Christ. The chapel was designed by Carlo Fontana at the end of the seventeenth century, and the large porphyry basin, once part of an imperial sarcophagus, was transformed into the font. Its elaborate gilt-bronze cover was decorated with angels, volutes and the Lamb of God. Above the font is the mosaic of the Baptism of Jesus, based on a painting by Carlo Maratta, showing John the Baptist pouring water over Christ in the Jordan River while the heavens open above. 回