While all eyes are on Rome as one pope exits and a new one is yet to be named, I’ve been thinking back to my visits to the Vatican.
I’ve been lucky to have been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI not once but two times during his weekly general audiences. I’ve marveled at the near-perfect symmetry of Vatican Square, the sheer size of St. Peter’s Basilica, Michelangelo’s awe-inspiring Sistine Chapel frescos and even journeyed underneath the Vatican to the scavi, or ruins, to see what’s believed to be tomb of St. Peter.
One thing that piqued my curiosity is the bronze pinecone and peacock statues in a courtyard at the Vatican Museum. What are these whimsical statues doing in one of the holiest of places in the world?
The statues are located in what is known as the Belvedere Courtyard, which was designed by Donato Bramante beginning in 1506 for Pope Julius II to connect the Vatican Palace with the Sistine Chapel. Originally the courtyard had three levels linked by stairways and flanked by galleries that were slightly angled towards the Sistine Chapel, so that from the papal apartments the courtyard looked even bigger than it actually was. Would you expect anything less from the Vatican?
Over the years, the courtyard became sort of a papal menagerie, a prime example being Pope Leo X who paraded his pet elephant Hanno around the courtyard for all to see. Bramante died in 1514 before the completion of the courtyard, which architect Pirro Ligorio finished in 1565, adding the niche at the north end with a half-dome top modeled after the Pantheon. This so-called Cortille della Pigna, or Court of the Pinecone, is home to the infamous 13-foot-tall bronze pinecone statue, which coincidentally was originally part of a Roman fountain near the Pantheon. The statue was moved to the courtyard of the old St. Peter’s Basilica in the Middle Ages and then again in 1608 to where it stands today. The bronze peacocks that flank the pinecone are replicas of statues that decorated the 2nd century tomb of Emperor Hadrian. The originals can be seen in the Braccio Nuovo Gallery inside the Vatican Museum.
Without giving you a Dan Brown-style lesson in symbolism, both pinecones and peacocks have had significant meanings throughout history. For example, the peacock has been a symbol for things like immortality, royalty, pride, renewal and the all-seeing eye of the church. There have also been references to peacocks as guardians of the Gates of Paradise.
Similarly, pinecones have been associated with spiritual enlightenment, resembling the brain’s pineal gland (also known as the “third eye”), as well as eternal life since pinecones are bore from evergreen trees. The pinecone has also been mentioned in connection to the Tree of Life. And speaking of Dan Brown, the spiral pattern of a pinecone also mirrors a perfect Fibonacci sequence.
So at end of the day, the Vatican’s pinecone and peacock statues demonstrate one of my favorite things about traveling – that things aren’t always what they seem, but rather there are layers of history everywhere we turn.
Boarding Pass 
[…] middle ages. The symbols (lions, peacocks and a pinecone, oh my) which were used pre-Christian were still important to the church, thus the […]
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tHE PINE CONE IS A SYMBOL OF DIONYSUS FOUND IN THE TEMPLE AREA OF EGYPTIAN GODS IN ROME
tHE PTOLEMIES WERE MAJOR WORSHIPPERS OF DIONYSUS
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I would really like to know what is so special about being blessed by the pope? He’s just a man. He can’t bless a person any better than you or I can. He has been (along with all the other Catholics) duped by a false religious system based on works, idols, and church tradition. I know. I used to be a part of it. Has anyone ever read about the religious system the Pharisees had going in the time of Christ? Sounds like the Vatican is pumping out the same damning propaganda. Instead of following and venerating another human, try following and worshiping Jesus – and Him alone. Only He is the way and the truth and the life. Not the pope, not the saints, and certainly not Mary.
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Correction, Try Worshiping God.
You Are Falling To The Same Folly Of which You Are Accusing Her. (ForGive Caps On Every Word, Auto Correct Is At Fault)
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Mary like the Saints only acts as intercessor. To be venerated,not Worshipped. It is justified by scripture in the wedding of Cana where Mary tells the servants to do as Jesus says and fill the Jars with water. Jesus did everything in mystery and his life was a reflection of the old testament.
—John 2:5-7
Generally people are against Mary from the beginning and find justification for dismissing her as irrelevant. At one time I thought she was very similar to the Roman goddess Juno who was also called Queen of heaven and connected with marriage and childbirth. But that’s where the similarities end. The idea that
the piso family when creating the Bible mytholized Mary has been buried. So don’t dismiss Catholic doctrine without studying it.Like you I believe Jesus is the way,the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
We can’t come to the Father through an intercessor. The Pope is a vicar of Christ, a deputy so to speak who is the only legitimate successor of Peter the apostle through Linus right up to today. This succession is a real spiritual succession and the original rock(Petra,Peter) which Jesus gave the keys to. These keys are mirrored in the Old Testament where the Steward was given the keys to city.
Everything is understood in symbolism and images for truth did not come into the world naked. —Gospel of Phillip.
Brother in Christ study more as I am doing. Even confession is an art in itself.
The Catholic Church no there stuff.
Idols were made for the illiterate also so the could get some idea of the story. The station of the cross etc. Remember God commanded the Israelites not make Idols yet he made one himself with the arc of the covenant and the Cherubim on top.Its all about obedience. Adam disobeyed and we all are now paid in wages by death. Obedience is a great cure for self – righteousness.Isaac obeyed God and was about to sacrifice his son. Obedience! Christ obeyed his Father and was resurrected. Are you any less?
We are not alive.We are born dead and so we will not die. Only those living in Christ can truly die. Again I am the way,the truth and the LIFE. Jesus embodied the truth and Life. It’s not the Catholic church who are duping you it’s Society,this world,your Politicians,teachers into believing you are alive. True life has to be eternal otherwise it’s contradictory to say life and death are one. Thats some Asian yin yang nonsense. God is light,there is no darkness in him. Death is darkness.
Peace be upon you. 🙏✝️
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The “Pigna” is a symbol of Asaru. It’s origin – a temple of Ast/Isis says it all. There is no story of Ast without including Asaru. Being a vegetation god, the Pine cone, especially the UNOPENED Pinecone represents renewall literally everlasting life.. In this case a Pagan symbol – not a re-purposed Pagan symbol but a Pagan Symbol used by the HEAD of the Christian world in the same manner that it was first used in the ancient world.
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[…] is no clear statement on what this statue means. However, they both have symbolism. For example, the peacock is connected to immortality, royalty, pride, and renewal. The pinecone is […]
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First of all, Jesus is not God nor a god. His our Savior according to John 3:16 and sits at the right of God the Father.
Second, popes are/were the heads of each of the five catholic churches fo come out of the Council of Nicea in the year 325 (August) at the direction of Constantine I. Of the five original catholic churches, only two remain: the Roman Catholic and the Orhodox. There are still echoes of the other three, and each still elects its pope. The Orthodox church calls theirs the Primate, (don’t know why). None of the popes are “apostolic” in nature though the Roman church claims so with only Constantine’s edict(s) as a base for the claim.
So that’s it in a nutshell, and so what is that pine cone at the Vatican all about?
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[…] The Vatican: the Pope, Peacocks and a Pinecone – Boarding Pass (boardingpasstraveler.com) […]
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[…] For Ancient Egyptians a pineal gland is a representation of power, wisdom and good health. The EYE OF HORUS is a defections of a Pineal Glands inside the brain they preserved Pineal Glands separately in the process of MUMMIFICATION . Sumerians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians civilizations and across the world this is a crucial thing for even the Vatican has an enormous Pine Cone Statues as symbol of power and illuminations. The POPE like the Egyptians god carry a STAFF with a PINE CONE and the VATICAN CHURCH LAMPS and CANDLE HOLDERS contain symbols representing the PINEAL GLANDS as ILLUMINATIONS. Pinecones have been associated with spiritual enlightenment, resembling the brain’s pineal gland (also known as the “third eye”), as well as eternal life since pinecones are bore from evergreen trees. The pinecone has also been mentioned in connection to the Tree of Life. https://boardingpasstraveler.com/2013/03/03/the-vatican-the-pope-peacocks-and-a-pinecone/ […]
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Pineal glands are the “food of the gods” and the “forbidden fruit” from the Bible. At the bottom of the fountain is the face of Nimrod. The obelisk at St. Peter’s Square represents Nimrod’s penis.
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