Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Timeline

1. 1st century

   Confiscation of the Laterani estate

   Plautius Lateranus, a consul designate, was executed by Emperor Nero on a charge of conspiracy, and the wealthy estate of the gens Laterani was confiscated by the imperial fisc.

2. c. 313

   Estate given to the Christians

   Emperor Constantine handed the Domus Faustae over to the Christian community of Rome, and under Pope Miltiades it began to serve as the residence of the Bishop of Rome.

3. 324

   Formal dedication of the basilica

   Pope Sylvester I dedicated the building as a basilica of the Saviour, founding the cathedral of the Roman bishop and the mother church of all Catholic Christendom.

4. 326

   Arrival of the Holy Stairs

   Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine, is said to have brought the marble staircase from Pilate's palace in Jerusalem to Rome, where it later became the Scala Sancta.

5. 10th century

   Rededication to John the Baptist

   On the occasion of a new baptistery, Pope Sergius III rededicated the basilica to John the Baptist, broadening the church's titular identity beyond the original dedication.

6. 12th century

   Dedication to John the Evangelist added

   Pope Lucius II added a further dedication of the basilica and palace to John the Evangelist, giving the church the double Johannine name it bears today.

7. 1307

   First major fire

   With the papacy absent in Avignon, a devastating fire broke out in the basilica and palace complex, inflicting damage that the impoverished papal court could only partially repair.

8. 1361

   Second major fire

   A second great fire struck the basilica, leaving it close to ruin; remittances from Avignon were too limited to fund a full restoration for many decades.

9. c. 1586

   Sixtus V's reconstruction

   Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Domenico Fontana to rebuild the complex; the Lateran Palace was separated from the basilica and rebuilt on a much-reduced footprint.

10. 15 November 1620

    Ordination of Petro Kasui Kibe

    The Japanese Jesuit Petro Kasui Kibe, who had travelled overland from Asia through the Middle East, received priestly ordination at this basilica before returning to martyrdom in Japan.

11. 1646-1649

    Borromini's nave renovation

    Under Pope Innocent X, Francesco Borromini undertook a sweeping renovation of the nave, producing the giant pilastered interior and apostle niches that still define the basilica.

12. 1735

    Galilei's facade completed

    The late-Baroque facade designed by Alessandro Galilei, selected through a public competition by Pope Clement XII, was completed and gave the basilica its present main front.

13. 11 February 1929

    Lateran Treaty signed

    Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, plenipotentiary of Pope Pius XI, signed the Lateran Treaty with Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini in this basilica, establishing the Vatican City State.

14. 1980

    UNESCO World Heritage listing

    The basilica was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Historic Centre of Rome and the extraterritorial properties of the Holy See and San Paolo Fuori le Mura.

Detailed History

During the early Roman Empire this site was occupied by the residence of the gens Laterani. Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and members of the family served several emperors. The line came to grief when Plautius Lateranus, a consul designate, was accused by Nero of conspiracy and executed, his estate confiscated. In the early fourth century, Emperor Constantine the Great came into possession of the palace through his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius, and it became known as the Domus Faustae. Constantine then gave the estate to the Christian community, and it became the residence of the Bishop of Rome under Pope Miltiades around 313 AD. In 324, Pope Sylvester I formally dedicated the building as a basilica of the Saviour, founding the cathedral of the Roman bishop and the mother church of all Catholic Christendom. In the tenth century, Pope Sergius III rededicated the church to John the Baptist on the occasion of a new baptistery, and in the twelfth century Pope Lucius II added a further dedication to John the Evangelist, giving the basilica the joint name it still bears. During the Avignon Papacy of the fourteenth century the basilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace fell into severe disrepair, suffering catastrophic fires in 1308 and 1362. In the late sixteenth century Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Domenico Fontana to rebuild the complex, in the process separating the Lateran Palace from the basilica. In the seventeenth century Pope Innocent X entrusted Francesco Borromini with a sweeping interior renovation, producing the magnificent nave with its colossal pilasters and apostle statues that still defines the building. In the early eighteenth century Pope Clement XII held a public competition for a new facade and selected the design of Alessandro Galilei, whose late-Baroque front was completed in 1735. On 11 February 1929 Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, plenipotentiary of Pope Pius XI, signed the Lateran Treaty here with Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini, formally establishing the Vatican City State. In 1980 the basilica was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the property officially titled "Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura."

Cultural Significance

Although it lies outside the walls of Vatican City, the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran is the official cathedral of the Pope in his role as Bishop of Rome. Saint Peter's, despite its global fame, functions effectively as the Pope's private papal chapel; the true papal cathedral is this one. Carved into the facade is the title omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput — "mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world" — positioning the basilica as the spiritual centre of the roughly 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide. It is the first of Rome's four major papal basilicas and the only church in the world to bear the title Archbasilica. Between 1123 and 1517 the building hosted the first five ecumenical Lateran Councils, decisively shaping medieval Catholic doctrine and church discipline. The basilica was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1980 as part of "Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura," and under the terms of the 1929 Lateran Treaty the entire complex enjoys an unusual international status, granted extraterritorial rights akin to those of a foreign embassy.

Architectural Details

The present basilica follows a Latin cross plan in the traditional five-aisled basilican form, with a central nave flanked by two aisles on each side. The facade, completed in 1735 to a design by Alessandro Galilei, is one of the great statements of late-Baroque Roman architecture: a balustrade along the roofline carries fifteen colossal statues, with Christ at the centre flanked by John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and a series of church doctors silhouetted against the sky. A two-storey loggia in the centre serves as a papal balcony for blessings. Inside, Borromini's seventeenth-century nave is the dominant artistic experience: giant pilasters frame deep niches containing the apostle statues, while the polychrome walls and the surviving Cosmati pavement maintain a continuity with the medieval church beneath. The high altar is reserved for the Pope and surmounted by a Gothic baldachin, or ciborium, said to enshrine relics of the heads of Saints Peter and Paul. The thirteenth-century mosaic of the apse, centred on a luminous medallion of the face of the Saviour, survives from before the Baroque renovations.