Week 5: 225

After visiting the Vatican for the first time, I was blown away. There was so much tradition and history inside these walls that nothing seemed to be without purpose. The one piece of art that I want to dissect is the tomb of Pope John Paul II. This was one of the last pieces that we saw and through this blog, I want to give the history and story behind its greatness.
The actual tomb of Pope John Paul II consists of many layers and coffins. The first, innermost part of the three traditional coffins is called the cypress coffin. This coffin was then placed in a larger, zinc casket, which is shut. This is the middle part of the coffin, which contains three bronze plaques. These include a simple cross at the head of the coffin, a plaque the Pope’s name and length of his life and pope reign, and finally the Pope’s personal coat of arms at the foot. This layer of the coffin was then lowered into a large walnut casket, containing three identical plaques, and then shut with nails and pure gold. Inside the tomb, where the body lays, there is a sealed eulogy detaining the life and works of the Pope. Also, there are three bags containing gold, silver, and copper coins. Each bag contains one coin for each year John Paul II reigned as pope.
The outer part of the coffin, which we all saw, is a plain marble slab, which contains his name in Latin and the dates of his pontificate. This type of burial habit was one of John Paul’s requests. He wanted his burial to resemble that of Pope Paul VI’s, which was one of simplicity and earth. He did not want an aboveground tomb, but one that was in “bare earth.” This quality is one of the reasons John Paul II was such an outstanding man. His humble attitude and forgiving spirit stole the hearts of millions of people, who continue to show their respects to him today.