Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone of the new St Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1506. The project became one of the largest artistic and religious enterprises of the Renaissance. Its expense and symbolism made the papacy a central patron of architecture, sculpture, painting and ceremonial display.

St Peter's shaped the religious imagination of Europe, including poetic responses to Rome, pilgrimage and sacred grandeur. The financing of such projects also fed criticism that would later energise Reformation polemic, hymns and satirical verse.