although located within the capital city of rome ,the vatican is a seperate country headed by the pope ,today when you have the oppotunity to visit the vatican ,you will admire a team of guards dressed in medieval costumes and wearing swords ,instead of modern bodyguards with police uniforms and armed with guns .the swiss guard is currently the smallest army in the world and is ussually on ceremonial duty all soldiers must be genuine swiss nationals trained in all combat skills like a real combat army,this is a tradition dating back to Pope julius II 1506 when he used a team of swiss mercenaries as his personal bodyguard.
saint peter's church is located on an old cemetery the stone tower in the center of st peters square was brought back by emperor cligula this tower made of monolithic red granite weighing more than 350 tons was erected under the pharaohs in egypt about 3000 years ago,in 1586 it was brought back to saint peters square for decorative purposes and also to form a giant sundial.
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