Help Aleteia continue its mission by making a tax-deductible donation. In this way, Aleteia's future will be yours as well.
*Your donation is tax deductible!
There really isn’t much that cannot be done in the popular game Minecraft. Since it was released in 2011, folks have covered popular songs with sound blocks and even crafted working computers. While it’s interesting to see what people come up with, the heart of the game lies in building, and today we’re looking at one of the coolest builds we’ve seen.
In 2019, the YouTube channel Lumen Fidei released this incredible recreation of St. Peter’s Basilica. The project was a labor of love primarily conducted by just two builders, although they note there were more involved. From the links to the St. Peter’s info page, it looks like they actually used the floor plan of the basilica as a guide.
The tour begins in St. Peter’s Square, which has been painstakingly recreated in full scale. In these opening moments we also get a shot of the stupendous job they did on the facade. Bernini’s colonnade looks to be about life-sized and the square even features the obelisk in the center.
Stepping inside, the builders show off the tremendous detail of the interior. The colors don’t always match up, but they did the best with what limited materials that the game provides. One of our favorite parts was that the creators took special care to import real photos of the Vatican’s famed art collection.
These images, of much higher quality than the cartoonish Minecraft blocks, can at times seem out of place. Still, they are invaluable reference points and they really make the video feel like a tour.
The viewer is taken through some of the most famous sights in St. Peter’s. These include the Holy Door, the Baptistry, the altar of St. Michael the Archangel, the tomb of St. Peter, and a lot more.
Just as with the real St. Peter’s, the most impressive and dizzying part of the tour is the massive dome overhead. In the video, the perspective takes flight to bring the viewer up and into the dome in order to show off the work they did. They may not have been able to capture the fine art of the dome, but they were kind enough to import another real image for reference.
The description did not mention how long it took the builders to construct this replica. Those who play Minecraft, however, might shudder at the thought of taking on such a massive project. We only wish they offered a link to download this incredible build, so that we could take our own walking tour.
