Basilica of Saint John Lateran. Historical details

Saint John Lateran is the first Christian Basilica built explicitly to gather the entire city community around its bishop, although Christians had already started to build churches before Constantine came to power: there is mainly literary evidence of them, affirming that forty already existed in Rome, whereas the artistic development is demonstrated by art from the catacombs. This sufficiently shows how Christianity, although persecuted, was so vital that it needed places and means of expression.

Entering in the Basilica, one can sense the volumetry of the ancient pagan Basilicas: indeed, it was erected by the same architects of the basilicas of the Imperial Forums, but with evident changes.

Firstly, in the pagan basilicas, one entered via the long side, with two apses on the left and on the right. Instead, in Saint John Lateran, for the first time, with a rotation of 90 degrees, one enters by the short side, as the building was oriented towards the single apse, which represents Christ who comes towards those who celebrate the Eucharist.

A second major novelty is the position of the altar: while in the ancient temples it was on the outside of the building, now it is inside and animals are no longer slaughtered there, but instead the sole and eternal sacrifice of Christ, present in the Eucharist, is offered.

In addition, while in the temple structures the people stayed outside, in the Christian basilica – of which Saint John Lateran is the prototype that went on to be imitated everywhere – all people, men and women, slaves and the free, nobles and commoners – are admitted together to the Eucharist.

Of the Constantine building, the two columns at the left and right of the ciborium have survived.

In Rome, Constantine supervised not only the construction of the Basilica of the Saviour – then renamed Saint John Lateran – but also a further nine basilicas.

He donated the land of the barracks of Maxentius’ private guardhouse for the construction of the Lateran basilica. The toponym “Lateran” continued to be used, since the place had previously belonged to the Lateran family.

The Cathedral

The basilica conserves the Pope’s “cathedra”, the sign of his being a “pastor”. Whereas academic cathedras are made up of tables on which books are placed, in cathedrals they take the form of a chair, because it is with the spoken word and witness that faith is primarily transmitted. But teaching ...

Façade and Loggias

The current façade is the work of Alessandro Galilei, who renovated it under Pope Clement XII, in the first half of the eighteenth century. The inscription at the top clearly shows that the basilica is dedicated to “Christo Salvatori”, Christ the Saviour, and indeed immediately above it there is a ...

Constantine and the tomb of Lorenzo Valla

Lorenzo Valla is known for having demonstrated that the so-called Donation of Constantine was not an imperial age document, but rather an early Medieval text. Valla was far from being an anti-clerical humanist; so much so that he died at Saint John Lateran as a canon of the basilica, ...

Borromini and the heavenly Jerusalem

Today, the Basilica appears in the form that Pope Innocent X gave it for the Jubilee of 1650. He wanted Francesco Borromini to preserve the structure of the primitive basilica, together with the new curvilinear forms that can be seen in the counter façade, so beloved of the Baroque, to depict the ...

The apse and the image of the Saviour

The apse is today recessed from the old one. Indeed, in 1884 Leo XIII wanted to enlarge the presbytery. According to the questionable artistic intervention criteria of the time, the thirteenth-century mosaic was restored, keeping its iconography unchanged, but irreparably corrupting its artistic ...

The Holy Door

The Holy Door is, in the portico, the last on the right, and it is the first to have been opened in the history of Jubilees, during the Holy Year of 1423. It was Pope Martin V – entombed in front of the main altar – who identified in the crossing of the door what became, from then on, the ...

The relics

The main relics of the Basilica are in the transept. The papal altar in the centre houses the wooden altar on which, according to tradition, Saint Peter himself celebrated. Pope Urban V commissioned Giovanni di Stefano in 1368 to make the Cyborium that emphasises his presence: in it, at the top, ...

The cloister

The construction of the cloister began in 1222, under Pope Honorius III, and continued until the years of Gregory IX, the time of Saint Francis. It was built by the Lateran canons – the diocesan priests who had adhered to the rule for a common life, inspired by Saint Augustine. The cloister itself, ...

The museum

The museum of the treasury of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran was inaugurated in 1984 by Saint John Paul II, and offers visitors a long series of liturgical vestments and furnishings of various kinds, reliquaries and significant objects in the centuries-long history of the Basilica. The visitor, ...

The Lateran Cross

One of the jewels of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran is the Constantinian Cross. Produced between the thirteenth and fourteenth century, it was used at the opening of papal processions, alongside the two candles that accompanied it. Of great importance for the history of medieval art, it is ...

Chapels and monuments

Among the many works of art, monuments and chapels in the basilica, the tomb of Leo XIII, the pope of Rerum Novarum, who wanted to be buried in the basilica, is worthy of mention. His tomb is above the door leading into the sacristy - the pontiff's body was smuggled into the basilica at night, ...