 Bernini had to pay the cost for the demolition; eventually the idea of completing the bell towers was abandoned.Bernini then turned his attention to another precious relic, the so-called "Cathedra Petri" or "throne of St. Peter" a chair which was often claimed to have been used by the apostle, but appears to date from the 12th century.As the chair itself was fast deteriorating and was no longer serviceable, Pope Alexander VII determined to enshrine it in suitable splendor as the object upon which the line of successors to Peter was based.