By 1650, the spiritual and political power of the Catholic Church was shattered. Thanks to the twin blows of the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years War, Rome—celebrated as the Eternal City—had lost its preeminent place in Europe. Then a new Pope, Alexander VII, fired with religious zeal, political guile, and a mania for creating new architecture, determined to restore the prestige of his church by making Rome the key destination for the European elite. To help him do so, he enlisted the talents of Gianlorenzo Bernini, and as Loyd Grossman notes here, the most important living artist would refashion the city into his masterpiece.