Brief history of the <i>Cathedra Petri</i> or throne of St. Peter's contained in the Bernini reliquary in St. Peter's (Vatican, Rome) and of opinions as to its authenticity. In 1968, Carbon-14 tests, chemical tests, and dendrochronological examinations of the wood confirmed the chair's 19th-century origin. Princeton Professor Kurt Weitzmann believes that the seemingly added-on ivory panels are Carolingian like the rest of the throne, whereas professor Margherita Guarducci, of the University of Rome, who has extensively published on the Cathedra, believes the panels derive from an Imperial Roman throne. -- AATA