Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 8 - Paul VI Audience Hall

Designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, the hall opened in 1971 as a space for audiences and conferences. In bad weather it can also serve as the location for the pope's weekly Wednesday morning general audience.

The interior of the hall is dominated by The Resurrection, an 80 ton bronze and brass sculpture that apparently depicts Jesus rising from the Garden of Gethsemane, out of a crater created by a nuclear bomb (the threat of nuclear war being much more palpable in the 1970s than it is today). The sculpture is the backdrop to whomever is speaking, and is a bit of an acquired taste. 

In addition to the main hall, there is also a smaller hall (the New Synod Hall) located above the vestibule of the main hall. In 2008 the building won a European Solar Prize for the installation of a solar energy system on its roof that provides all of the power for the building's systems.

The hall itself sits on land donated to the Vatican by the Knight of Columbus. Most of the land is actually in Rome, with a smaller portion within the boundaries of the Vatican (the rostrum where the pope sits is on Vatican land, which makes sense).