St. Peter's Square (Italian: Piazza San Pietro) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome. At the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Doric colonnades, four columns deep, which embrace visitors in "the maternal arms of Mother Church". The granite fountain was constructed by Bernini in 1675. (wikipedia.org)