Lateran Basilica

Saint John Lateran

San Giovanni in Laterano

Domenico Fontana (Italian architect, 1543-1607)

Francesco Borromini (Italian architect, 1599-1667)

Alessandro Galilei (Italian architect and engineer, born 1691, died 1736 or 1737)

J. J. Olivier and Ribault, Julie (French painter, engraver, and etcher, born 1789, active 1810-1826)

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italy

ca. 314-1736 (inclusive)

plan of Corsini Chapel

partial cross section of Corsini Chapel

longitudinal section of Corsini Chapel, plans

sections

Dedicated to the Saviour and (certainly from the 7th century) to St John, and known as S Giovanni in Laterano, the basilica is the cathedral church of Rome. It was regarded as the mother church of all Christendom, as is made clear by the inscription omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput, which appears twice on the huge bases of the columns framing the central doorway to the present building. The church was probably begun after the Edict of Milan (313) and consecrated just before Constantine's departure to the East in 318

it would then have been incomplete and largely undecorated. The proportions and spatial distribution of the present nave (by Borromini,1646-1650) substantially reflect those of the Early Christian basilica. The main façade (1732-1736) by Alessandro Galilei is simple, solemn and harmonious, in a late Baroque Classicist style, with the benediction loggia on the main axis. Galilei also added the Corsini Chapel.

line drawings (drawings)

Architectural Documentation

basilicas

churches

religious buildings

cathedrals

plans

sections

Baroque

Early Christian

Italian

architectural exteriors

architectural interiors

New Testament

rulers and leaders

saints

Letarouilly, Paul Marie. Edifices de Rome Moderne. Paris: A. Morel, 1868, 227.

Public Domain

Fontana, Domenico

Borromini, Francesco, Galilei, Alessandro