San Pietro in Vincoli

Just down the street from our hotel is San Pietro in Vincoli church.  Walking down the main avenue -- Via Cavour -- we walked up a steep flight of stairs into a square where the church sits.  Fairly nondescript from the outside, San Pietro in Vincoli -- translation St. Peter in Chains -- is an historic Roman church first built in AD 440 to house the chains that held Peter.

Peter's Chains behind the altar

Actually, there are two sets of chains -- one set used to hold Peter when he and Paul were held in the Mamertine prison in Rome.  The others were used in Jerusalem when Peter was jailed by Herod.  The chains from Jerusalem were a gift to the emperor in the waning days of the Roman empire.  According to tradition, when the two sets of chains were placed together, they miraculously joined into one.  The chains are displayed in a special case at the altar.

Moses

The church underwent significant changes around 1475, but the 20 Doric columns flanking either side of the church are original.  The other interesting item for which this church is noted is for is a statue of Moses by Michelangelo.  This statue was originally supposed to be part of a monumental work for the planned tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter's Basilica.  The pope would abandon this project and instead have Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

So many of he churches here in Rome have priceless works of art such as this Michelangelo statue.  They're free to see and usually not very crowded.  While you wouldn't necessarily say this church is off the beaten path, one of our favorite things about traveling is discovering these often bypassed sites.  You just have to know where to look.