The Chair of St Peter

The Cathedra Petri or Chair of Saint Peter

The Cathedra Petri or Chair of Saint Peter is the chair preserved in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, enclosed in a gilt bronze casing that was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and executed 1647–53.

It is the symbol of the authority of the Bishop of Rome and of his primacy in the Church.

The reliquary by Bernini is also in the shape of a chair

The chair encased in the reliquary was given by Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII in AD 875.

Its medieval simplicity is reminiscent of the Coronation Chair of the British monarch in Westminster Abbey.