Rome: Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore Tour

Although enlarged and redecorated, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore retains much of its original structure of the fifth century. In the years following the return of the papacy to Rome from Avignon, part of the church was used as a papal residence until the complete renovation of the Vatican palace.

Admire its mosaics of the fifth century, a reliquary that is said to contain a piece of the crib that once held baby Jesus, an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary, and the tomb of St. Jerome and the tomb of the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage site that includes all extraterritorial properties of the Holy See in Rome. See the Sistine Chapel in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, dedicated to Pope Sixtus V.