Real quick, a name you need to know: BERNINI

STONE. This... in stone. 

It's a detail from this masterpiece, of Hades taking Persephone away. Bernini's sculptures seem to be in motion-- they're always from the climax of the stories, caught right in action. To say "frozen" seems too cold a description for what he's done with his figures, although I'm at a loss for any other adjectives.

The most unnatural thing about his sculptures is just the fact that they aren't literally in physical motion. It's odd that we can move around them, and they remain captured in time. 

Daphne, fleeing Apollo, is granted her safety by being turned into the laurel tree. Branches are bursting out of her fingertips, roots shooting from her toes, and her skin is seizing into rough patches of bark even as Apollo's fingers dig into the still-soft flesh of her belly.

This one is a special case-- this "Sleeping Hermaphrodite" was actually discovered in the 17th century as a ruin left over from the Roman Empire. After it was dug up (imagine finding THAT buried in the ground!), it was presented to Cardinal Borghese, who paid Bernini to sculpt the mattress. I know it's just a mattress, but look at that. Seems comfier than my own bed.

Fontana dei Quatro Fiumi, featuring a Roman copy of an Egyption Obelisk

Bernini was eeeeeeverywhere we looked in Rome-- I can't believe he didn't get a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle name sake. Fountains, churches, piazzas, St. Peter's.

Fontana dei Quatro Fiumi (close up): Four men/River-gods are on the fountain, each one representing a river. On the left here we've got the Rio de la Plata (reclining on a pile of coins and representing the riches the Americas could offer Europe), and on the right is the Danube (closest to Rome, and so reaching out to the papal crest).

This one is at the front of the Spanish Steps-- apparently Bernini helped his dad with this one. They had some problems with low water pressure, which they cleverly solved by creating the fountain as a sinking boat.

Bernini's bronze casting frames the "chair of St.Peter" -- this enormous display is the front piece of St.Peter's Basilica. 

Again, Bernini dominates St. Peter's with his "baldachin", marking the saint's tomb underneath.

A detail from the baldachin.

St. Longinus, by Bernini in St.Peter's-- this statue protects a sacred relic, namely a fragment of the spear which Longinus (originally a guard at the crucifixion) used to piece Jesus' side.

Bernini's last masterpiece at the age of EIGHTY. The lady with a baby in her arms is "Charity," the lady on the right standing on England is "Truth" (symbolizing how the pope was trying to stop the spread of Anglicanism in Europe)-- Justice and Prudence are in the back. In the front, you can just make out a bronze skeleton under the drapery holding up an hour glass, symbolizing mortality.

Finally, if all that weren't enough, Bernini also designed the square outside of St.Peter's to boot. Yes, of course he had many assistants who did sculptures as well, but overall-- Bernini was the mastermind behind almost all of what you see here:

Fun fact: Bernini designed the colonnade with an optical illusion. From anywhere else you can see the layers of columns, but if you stand on this bronze circle inlaid in the cobblestones in the center, the columns perfectly align and you can only see the first row. Oh, Bernini. 

Unrelated highlight:

Vatican guards... laaawwwlllll- run for your life?