Wow! thank you guys for your kind comments. I wasn't expecting such interest :)
Juraj and Roland B: The work is indeed a shot for a VFX production, a Documentary to be more specific ( though what you see here is the background with no plates ). It wasn't a difficult shot "vfx" wise as the camera only did rotation but it was quite of work on the research/modelling aspect. I'll include some images to give you an idea. But this is roughly the story:
During Roman times Peter the Apostle ( First pope of Rome ) was crucified upside down by Nero ( AD 64 ). He, the story goes, died looking at the famous Egyptian obelisk brought by Caligula in 40BC which was located at the center of the Circus of Nero.
So later on Emperor Constantine the Great built the first Basilica on Peter's name around 319 and 333 AD and this is the smallest building on the right side. It was build around the ruins of the Circus and the Obelisk stayed in it's place til much later.
By the end of the 15th century the Basilica laid pretty much in ruin so pope Nicholas decided to build a new one on top of it. This took a long time. The main engineering feast was the Dome which was finished by the Direction of Michelangelo who died in 1564. At the end there was nothing left of the Old Basilica but Saint Peter's tomb which still can be seen. The Obelisk was eventually moved to its current location in 1586 taking months and 900 men .
So. in the image i had to cheat as the client wanted to capture a long period in a single moment. The old Basilica should have been in Ruins and the Obelisk should have been standing in the center of the image ( see images ). Apart of that the image could be dated around 1555-1560.
Rumullus: Chilombiano is indeed Chilean + Colombian / A nickname given to me when i lived in Chile which wasn't entirely accurate as i'm half Russian half Colombian :)
In this first batch of attachments is some of the ref used for the Old basilica and Blue prints of the buildings including the Obelisk and Roman circus locations
