Confessio

The Altar of the Confession of St. Peter with the tomb of the Apostle. In its central part, behind the bronze gilded door, there is a 9th-century mosaic depicting Christ, below which a golden urn with relics of the Prince of the Apostles is placed. Here, in a recess called the Niche of Pallia, pallia are kept on the day before they are given to newly chosen metropolitans. On the left one may easily notice a depiction of the tool of the torment of St. Peter – a reversed cross and figures of the Apostles Peter and Paul on its sides. This all is lit with 99 oil lamps and in the niche itself one more is kindled, containing precious balm. The photo was taken before Vatican II when a part of the confession was covered with a platform standing there to this day.