Unlike many basilicas I've recently visited, this one is not overly filled with art and sculpture and tombs (though it does have each of these and each individual item is worthy of attention and perhaps a photo). Rather than an inundation of stimuli making it impossible to take in any one item, whereupon leaving one struggles to recall the experience in any detail, I trust I will be able to recall both what I saw and my impressions of the basilica and its constituent parts.

(An additional noteworthy aspect that I loved is that only a handful of people were there when I visited just prior to 9 AM, making the cavernous space wondrously empty and accessible. See! Total recall and proof of my point!)

The history of the basilica is very interesting. Constructed in the 5th century over pre-existing structures, it owes its existence to two women, the wife (Eudoxia) and daughter of Emperor Arcadius, both of whom provided funding.

There is an amazing fresco from 1476, produced at the time of a plague; a polychrome marble altar hosts a 7th century mosaic icon of St. Sebastian, he of the Basilica and Catecombs found on the Appian Way heading out of Rome; the Crypt and Altar of the Chains, those supposedly worn by Peter before his crucifixion; and a hulking and stunning Carrara marble tomb of Pope Julius II, with Moses as its centerpiece and sculpted by Michelangelo from 1513 to 1542.

I'm not a religious person and have not been since my adolescence, yet I love great architecture and sculpture. Though the basilica is not much to look at from outside its entrance, twenty stupendous Doric columns greet visitors as they step inside. It's truly a majestic place and worth adding to one's itinerary when in Rome.