Rome

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San Giovanni in Laterano

San Giovanni and the Lateran palace were the original papal headquarters until they were moved across the river to the Vatican in the 14th century. Constantine gave the plot of land to Pope Melchiades to build the church in 313. Little remains of the original basilica. The interior was revamped by Borromini in 1646. The façade, with its huge statues of Christ, the two Johns (Baptist and Evangelist) and Doctors of the Church, was added in 1735. A few treasures from earlier times survive: a 13th-century mosaic in the apse, a fragment of a fresco attributed to Giotto (behind the first column on the right) showing Pope Boniface VIII announcing the first Holy Year in 1300, and the Gothic baldacchino over the main altar. Off the left aisle is the 13th-century cloister; a small museum off the cloister contains vestments and some original manuscripts of music by Palestrina. The north façade was designed in 1586 by Domenico Fontana, who also placed Rome’s tallest Egyptian obelisk outside. Also on this side is the octagonal baptistry that Constantine had built. The four chapels surrounding the font have mosaics from the fifth and seventh centuries; the bronze doors come from the Baths of Caracalla.

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