St. Peter's 500th

Today is the 500th anniversary of the start of construction of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.

It is now known that a perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse. ...

Thus, to the casual tourist, awestruck in front of St. Peter's, Rome, the Basilica and the Vatican must seem the ideal setting for the Papal Monarchy at the very height of its prestige and power. ... But a glance at the guidebook will convince the traveler that the really powerful Popes reigned long before the dome was raised, and reigned not infrequently somewhere else. ... The great days of the Papacy were over before the perfect setting was even planned. They were almost forgotten by the date of its completion.

-- C. Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson's Law (1957), Ch. 6