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Two projects—one sacred and one secular—spanned much of the sixteenth century. Reconstruction of the church of St. Peter's began in 1506 at the command of Pope Julius II Della Rovere (reigned 1503–1513) on the design of Donato Bramante (1444–1514), who projected a Greek-cross plan with a massive central dome, a radical departure in design from the Latin-cross plan of the original fourth-century foundation of Old St. Peter's marking the burial site of Peter, the first pope. The scheme was fantastic and promised to rival the scale of Roman imperial public architecture....
