Lateran Palace
The Apostolic Palace of the Lateran, informally the Lateran Palace, is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in Rome.
Located on Saint John's Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the palace is adjacent to the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome. The wealthy Lateran family held the palace estate during the Roman Empire, and the estate eventually came into the hands of the Emperor Constantine the Great who gifted it to Pope Miltiades who was residing at the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana.
From the fourth century, the palace was the principal residence of the popes, and continued so for about a thousand years until the Apostolic Residence ultimately moved to the nearby Vatican. The palace is now used by the Vatican Historical Museum, which illustrates the history of the Papal States. The palace also houses the offices of the Diocese of Rome, as well as the residential apartments of the Cardinal Vicar, the pope's delegate for the daily administration of the diocese. Until 1970, the palace was also home to the important collections of the Lateran Museum, now dispersed among it and other parts of the Vatican Museums.
The building that stands today, after many waves of construction and destruction since Roman times, is nearly all from the rebuilding begun in the 1580s to the designs of Domenico Fontana. This is a rectangular building with a central courtyard, higher but less sprawling and so smaller than the medieval palace, of which only fragments remain, themselves largely rebuilt later. The Leonian Triclinium, the end wall of a great medieval hall, and the Santa Scala or "Holy steps" are the largest of these. These are now incorporated into a separate building across the square from the main palace.
Following the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the palace and adjoining basilica are extraterritorial properties of the Holy See.
History
Pre-papal use
The site on which the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano sits was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the domus of the Plautii Laterani family. The Laterani served as administrators for several emperors; their ancestor Lucius Sextius Lateranus is said to have been the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, in 366 BC. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties.Constantinian era
The Domus Laterani came into the possession of the emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Around 312, Constantine had razed the imperial horse-guards barracks adjoining the palace, which was known as Domus Faustae or "House of Fausta" by this time; the equites singulares ''Augusti had supported Maxentius against Constantine. He commissioned the construction of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano on the site.The Domus Laterani'' was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I. It is believed that this happened during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades, in time to host a synod of bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatists.
Medieval Palace
As Byzantium grew less able to help prevent Lombard incursions, the papacy became more independent of the Empire. Prior to the early eighth century, the residence of the bishops of Rome was not called a palace, but rather the "Lateran patriarchate" . The incentive to refurbish the Lateran patriarchate as a true palace was to create an imperial residence from which the pope could exercise not only spiritual but also temporal authority.The pope's palace at the Lateran in Rome was extensively added to in the late eighth century by Pope Hadrian I and Pope Leo III. Pope Hadrian I restructured the portico by the entrance staircase and erected another tower next to it, which functioned as residential space. This portico was used to distribute alms and was also the location of the statue of the Capitoline Wolf and the Lex de imperio Vespasiani tables.
Pope Leo III built two triclinia around 800 to serve as the heart of papal ceremonial. Architecturally they were reminiscent of Byzantine imperial buildings in Constantinople. Both triclinia were ornate with mosaics and fountains, and were the location of papal ceremonies, banquets and meetings. The decorations had an explicitly political theme, and they were meant to be a symbol of papal power and authority.
The Leonian Triclinium or triclinium maius was one of the most famous halls of the ancient palace and was the state banqueting hall, lined with mosaics. It was a two story structure, 50m long from end to end. The upper floor was constituted of a large 26 meter long main chamber with a main apse at the end and one apse on each side, and a rectangular entrance antechamber, maybe with a portico. Frescoes covered the two apses projecting the main chamber and the two apses in the antechamber, while the main apse was covered in a mosaic and hosted the papal throne. Nothing remains of this, but in 1743 copies of the mosaics were made from drawings and placed in a specially built structure opposite the palace. The existing structure is not ancient, but a representation of the original mosaics is preserved in a three-part mosaic: In the centre Christ gives their mission to the Apostles; on the left he gives the keys to St. Peter and the Labarum to Constantine; while on the right St. Peter gives the stole to Leo III and the standard to Charlemagne, an image meant to represent the Frankish king's duty to protect the Church.
The second triclinium built by Leo III, also known as the Aula Concilii, was situated next to the basilica and in perpendicularly to it. It was a magnificent oblong hall with eleven apses, the major apse on one end and five on each side. The side apses had a diameter of 6.7 meters and were 2.34 meters apart, while the end ones were 4.47 meters away from the front and end walls. A large Porphyry fountain was placed in front of the main apse, spouting jets of water from pressurized pipes of the restored Aqua Claudia, a technical marvel meant to impress visitors. Each of the 10 lateral apses held accubita for banquets, on the model of the reception hall of the 19 accubita in the Great Palace of Constantinople. The main apse was decorated with a mosaic showing Christ and Mary with Saints Peter and Paul and three other figures, while each of the ten lateral apses was decorated with frescoes depicting an apostle preaching to the gentiles. On the left of the main apse was a staircase that led to the basilica. The hall was adorned with columns, pilasters, a floor in opus sectile. A drawing by Pompeo Ugonio survives as evidence of its structure and ornamentation.
Leo III and his successor Paschal I decorated the Sancta Sanctorum with new jeweled reliquaries and a reliquary chest modeled on the Ark of the Covenant, which stored some of Rome’s most precious relics. Around the 820s the Liber Pontificalis starts calling the complex a palace, palatium.
The private apartments of the popes in this palace were situated between the triclinium and the city walls. It later was called Aula Concilii due to its role as a place of meetings.
In the tenth century Sergius III restored the palace after a disastrous fire, and later it was greatly embellished by Innocent III. This was the period of its greatest magnificence, when Dante speaks of it as beyond all human achievements. At this time the centre of the piazza was occupied by the palace and tower of the Annibaldi family.
After the Great Schism of 1054, the Lateran palace was the venue of the first ecumenical council to be held in Western Europe in 1123. Four other ecumenical councils were also held in this site.
Between this palace and the Lateran basilica was the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which at the time was erroneously believed to represent the Christian Emperor Constantine. A copy of the equestrian statue is now placed in the centre of the Capitoline Square while the original has been safely preserved for display in the Capitoline Museums.
Boniface VIII added the Loggia delle Benedizioni to the northern side of the Aula Concilii.
In its place, the Lateran obelisk was erected. Originally commissioned by the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Thuthmosis III, it was completed by his grandson, Thuthmosis IV. At 32.18 m it is the tallest obelisk in Rome and the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world, weighing over 230 tons. Following the annexation of Egypt to the Empire, it was taken from the temple of Amun in Karnak and brought to Alexandria with another obelisk by Constantius II. From there it was brought on its own to Rome in 357 to decorate the spina'' of the Circus Maximus. The dedication on the base, however, gives the glory to Constantine I, not to his son who brought it to Rome.
Avignon Papacy
The fall of the palace from this position of glory was the result of the departure of the popes from Rome during the Avignon Papacy.Two destructive fires, in 1307 and 1361, did irreparable harm, and although vast sums were sent from Avignon for the rebuilding, the palace never again attained its former splendour. The palace had Gothic architectural elements at this point. When the popes returned to Rome they resided first at Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, then at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and lastly fixed their residence at the Vatican. St. Peter's Basilica, also built by Constantine, had until then served primarily as a pilgrimage church. Sixtus V, more concerned with rationalized urban planning than the preservation of antiquities, then destroyed what still remained of the ancient palace of the Lateran in 1586 preserving only the Sancta Sanctorum, and erected the present much smaller edifice in its place, designed by his favorite architect Domenico Fontana.