San Pietro in Vincoli (Moses by Michelangelo)

San Pietro in Vincoli — Saint Peter in Chains — takes its name from the relic it was built to house: the chains traditionally believed to have bound the Apostle Peter during his imprisonment in Jerusalem, displayed in a reliquary beneath the high altar. The church itself dates originally to the 5th century, though the building visible today reflects later renovations layered over that early Christian core.

The real reason to visit has nothing to do with the chains. Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo in 1505 to design an enormous freestanding tomb for himself, originally planned with over 40 statues — a project so ambitious it became, in Michelangelo's own later description, 'the tragedy of the tomb,' dragging on for decades, repeatedly scaled back, and interrupted by other commissions including the Sistine Chapel ceiling. What was finally installed here in 1545, forty years after the initial commission, was a drastically reduced version of the original vision.