Vintage tin with image of St. Peter's Square - Vatican City on the occasion of the installation of Pope John Pius XII.

Vintage tin with image of St. Peter's Square - Vatican City on the occasion of the installation of Pope John Pius XII.

• Manufacturer: DFB
• Manufacturing date: 1950

Description
Beautiful hinged tin with an image of the Vatican and St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Released on the occasion of the benefit of Pope Pius XII in the year 1950. Very nice and special tin of the Belgian DBF.

Lid still closes fine. Nice tin for the collector. Of course also very useful for storing various things.

Condition
This tin is in a good vintage condition with traces of use and age-related traces of wear. Photos are part of the description.

Dimensions

• Height: 7 cm.
• Length: 33 cm.
• Width: 20 cm.

Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano), is the smallest independent state in the world. The territory of this country is completely enclosed by the city of Rome, making it an enclave within Italy.

Vatican City is represented in international law by the Holy See and is home to the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. The head of state of the Vatican City is the Pope, who has his official residence in the Apostolic Palace. At the time of the sede vacante, the papal period after the death (or resignation) of the reigning pope, current affairs are looked after by the Camerlengo.

The miniature state was created in 1929 as a result of the Lateran Treaty, signed by Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini. It was emphatically stated that it is a newly created state. Formally it cannot therefore be regarded as a continuation or revival of the Papal State.

Vatican City is not a member of the European Union, but it does participate in various international organizations. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.

St. Peter's Square (Italian: Piazza San Pietro) is a square in the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica is located on the square. St. Peter's Square was built between 1656 and 1667. The square is 240 meters wide and the length is 340 meters.

The square is surrounded by 284 Doric columns and 88 columns arranged in four rows. The colonnade has 140 statues of saints. The columns form an ellipse (with an inner diameter of approximately 198 meters) that extends slightly wider towards the church, so that it rises even more imposingly. On the square one can see a round stone embedded in the ground on both the left and right of the obelisk (towards the fountains).

In the centre of the square is an Egyptian obelisk that is 40 meters high and weighs 340 tons. This so-called Vatican Obelisk was built in 37 AD. Brought to Rome from Egypt by Emperor Caligula. The obelisk originally stood in the circus of Nero, over which the old St. Peter's Church was partially built in the 4th century. In 1586, by order of Pope Sixtus V and according to a plan by the architect Domenico Fontana, the obelisk was moved 300 meters to St. Peter's Square, which looked different at the time. Eight to nine hundred workmen then, with the help of 75 or 160 horses and many pulleys and cords, placed the obelisk in the middle of the square on a base of four enormous bronze lions in four months. The job was done by September 14.

Pope Sixtus had a cross placed on top of the obelisk, so that it is now 41 meters high. Marble stones in the floor around the obelisk indicate the directions of the compass.

Two identical fountains stand on either side of the obelisk. These fountains spray 38,000 liters / minute of water into the air up to a height of 14 meters. The water comes from Lake Bracciano.

Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (Rome, March 2, 1876 - Castel Gandolfo, October 9, 1958), was an Italian Pope from 1939 until his death in 1958. World War II broke out at the beginning of his pontificate and in its last years the danger of the Cold War was imminent, which was to come a few years later. Theologically important is his solemn definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary with soul and body in 1950.

Some translations come from an automated system and may contain errors.