page_title: Lateran Palace
section_title: Avignon Papacy
hierarchical_section_title: Lateran Palace / History / Avignon Papacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of the Lateran Palace and basilica during medieval times. Since the old Lateran palace was destroyed and reconstructed after 1586, Ciampini could have based his etching on earlier drawings. 1) Lateran Basilica 2) Council Hall 3) Balcony of Boniface VIII 4) Lateran Palace 5) Holy Stairs (scala sancta) 6) Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
context_page_description: The Lateran Palace, formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran, is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome.
  Located on St. 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. 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 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 Vicariate 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 other parts of the Vatican Museums.
  Following the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the palace and adjoining basilica are extraterritorial properties of the Holy See.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: The Lateran during medieval times, from a 17th-century engraving by Giovanni Giustino Ciampini
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