Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Interesting facts

The President of France is ex officio the basilica's first and only honorary canon, a title French heads of state have held since King Henry IV.

Although it lies about 4 km outside Vatican City, the basilica enjoys extraterritorial status under the Lateran Treaty of 1929.

Popes lived in the neighbouring Lateran Palace for roughly a thousand years, until the papacy moved to Avignon in 1309, and five ecumenical councils met there.

Its early riches earned it the nickname Golden Basilica, which made it a target: the Vandals stripped it of its treasures in the 5th century.

The Lateran Obelisk weighs an estimated 455 tonnes; brought to Rome in 357 for the Circus Maximus, it later broke, was buried, and was re-erected here in 1588.

Twelve medieval papal tombs were lost in the 14th-century fires; Leo XIII, buried here in 1903, was the last pope interred outside St Peter's until 2025.

Of a pair of red marble papal thrones once used here, one is now in the Vatican Museums and the other, taken by Napoleon, is in the Louvre.

Its octagonal baptistery was for generations the only one in Rome, and its design served as a model for baptisteries across Italy.

Tradition holds that the marble Holy Stairs nearby came from Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem; they are now protected beneath wooden steps.

Because the church is dedicated first to Christ the Saviour, its titular feast falls on 6 August, the Transfiguration, rather than on a feast of either Saint John.

Why it is worth it

Saint John Lateran, not Saint Peter's, is the cathedral of Rome. It is the seat of the pope as bishop of the city, and an inscription on its front calls it the mother and head of all churches of the city and the world. Its origins go back to Constantine: after his victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge the emperor gave the Lateran palace, once the property of his wife Fausta's family, to the Bishop of Rome, and a basilica was dedicated here in 324, making it the oldest of Rome's major basilicas. The church stands over the remains of the fort of the imperial horse guards, which Constantine abolished because they had fought for his rival Maxentius.

Earthquakes and fires took the old basilica apart more than once — an earthquake in 897 brought it down "from the altar to the doors", and fires in 1308 and around 1360 ravaged its replacement — and today's building is largely a Baroque transformation. Francesco Borromini remodelled the interior for Pope Innocent X, creating twelve great niches along the nave; in the early 18th century these were filled with larger-than-life marble statues of the apostles by the leading sculptors of late Baroque Rome. The east front, completed in 1735 by Alessandro Galilei after a competition, is a colossal screen of arches framed by giant Corinthian pilasters — so palatial that critics have long said it looks more like a palace than a church.

Older layers survive beneath the Baroque. The floor is medieval Cosmatesque inlay, the Gothic ciborium over the high altar dates from 1369, and the 13th-century cloister, surrounded by columns of inlaid marble, is the work of the Vassalletto family and the Cosmati. A 4th-century statue of Constantine stands in the portico. Outside, on the square, rises the Lateran Obelisk, commissioned by the pharaoh Thutmose III for Karnak and the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world. The basilica and its properties are part of the Historic Centre of Rome World Heritage Site.

Getting there

The basilica is in central Rome, on Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano. San Giovanni station, an interchange on Lines A and C of the Rome Metro, is right beside it. Ciampino Airport (CIA) is about 12 km away.

Plan your visit

We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.

From the encyclopaedia

The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, commonly known as the Lateran Basilica or Saint John Lateran, is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome, Italy. It serves as the seat of the bishop of Rome and head of the worldwide Catholic Church: the pope. The only "archbasilica" in the world, it lies outside of Vatican City proper, which is located approximately four kilometres northwest. Nevertheless, as properties of the Holy See, the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices enjoy an extraterritorial status from Italy, pursuant to the terms of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Dedicated to Christ the Saviour, in honor of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, the place name – Laterano (Lateran) – comes from an ancient Roman family (gens), whose palace (domus) grounds occupied the site. The adjacent Lateran Palace was the primary residence of the pope until the Middle Ages.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

On these lists

From the encyclopaedia