Rome in 15 Buildings 13: San Pietro in Vincoli

Speech stands at the threshold of the compressed lips. Righteous indignation is written in the lines of the set jaw. The presence of God blazes forth from the eyes. As a work of art, Michelangelo’s Moses is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It sits, however, in the cramped central niche of a medium-sized wall tomb, ringed by smaller statues ranging in quality from mediocre to incompetent. This thirteenth episode in our History of Rome discusses the creation of the Moses, and the circumstances that brought it to its underwhelming repose in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli.