Le Chiese delle Cittá: San Giovanni Laterano

My apologies for being a day late on this. This was supposed to go out on Wednesday, Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Today is a special day in the history of church architecture. I am of course speaking of the Dedication of the Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano by Sylvester I in 324. This is more or less a big deal. Just 11 years before, Constantine had declared that Christianity would be tolerated in the Roman Empire. He proceeded to start a campaign of building churches throughout the city. Two famous ones are San Pietro and San Giovanni Laterano. By now they look nothing like they did when Constantine built them. Neither, of course, does the Great Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine that stands on the Roman Forum. The only difference is that it is in ruins.

Think about that for a bit. Two buildings built within 30 years of each other have weathered the ages completely differently. My personal opinion is that buildings like the Basilica of Constantine should be used, not just viewed. But that’s just the architect in me.

And so, in honor of a building that has survived its 1687 year old life, I would like to tell you a little bit about the architecture as it currently stands. I hope this aids in your appreciation of this church and devotion to what it represents.

San Giovanni Laterano is the cathedral of Rome. As such it is the cathedral of the universal church. This is of course why the Church celebrates its dedication. It is here that the authority of Christ lives on in the world through his vicar. The pope even used to live on the Lateran property before it became too unsafe. Of course he moved to the site of the bones of St. Peter, so that’s not that much of a stretch. One might wonder why the Pope wasn’t always at San Pietro in Vaticano. Well, it just so happens that San Giovanni houses the heads of Peter and Paul.

Now that we know a little history, let us commence with the architecture. San Giovanni is a five aisle basilica style church. I’ve mentioned this church form before. They were pretty common in the 300s. Anyway, San Giovanni has a nave, two aisles on each side as well as multiple side chapels. It’s a pretty wide church. Since it is, as I said, an early christian basilica, it has a high transept in front of the apse. Differently from some churches, however, its main altar with baldachino is in the transept instead of the apse. Instead, the chair of Peter with choir is in the apse. There is an altar there, but it is not the main one.

The main altar has a medieval baldachino covering it. One of the things that San Giovanni exemplifies is the numerous embellishments that many early christian churches underwent. Over a 4th century form is placed a medieval baldachino, a baroque nave and aisles, and 19th century furnishings. Fortunately, the 4th century mosaic survives. Somehow it really represents well the universality of the church. We have always been a “both/and” Church. Although in this case, it’s a “This/and/and/and” Church.

To the left of the main altar is the tabernacle altar. I am a big fan of tabernacles that are shaped like building, considering the original “tabernacle” was the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant. The most amazing thing about this altar though (barring the Eucharist) is the brass columns that hold up the baldachino. They have a very interesting history. Although the Christians stole them from the defunct Temple of Jupiter, the Romans themselves stole them first.

When Marcus Antonius defeated Cleopatra’s Egyptian navy, the brass hulls from the ships were melted down and cast as gigantic columns. In other words, the canopy over the Altar of God is Egyptian brass reworked by the Pagan Romans. Really shows who’s boss, if you know what I mean.

The apse has a mosaic, as all good early christian apses do. This one is pretty unique, at least in terms of the other ones I’ve seen. Instead of having the twelve apostles like in many mosaics, it is more like a representation of the Crucifixion. Only in this one, Christ is not on the Cross but looking over the scene from a blue area representing the heavens. The cross is used as the Tree of Life from which the four rivers of paradise flow. Another interesting thing about the apse  is that the windows are pointed arches. This would seem to indicate that they were added after the original church was built.

Also, did I mention that the Chair of St. Peter is in this church?

Let us move to the Nave. It was redesigned in the Baroque period by Bernini who also did the Baldachino in San Pietro as well as the piazza arms. It is lined with a gigantic composite order of paired pilasters.

Along the first level runs a series of niches that hold statues of the 12 Apostles (Including Paul, not Matthias. Why does he always get sold short?) Above each apostle is a relief showing a scene from the Bible. On one side is the Old Testament and on the other side is a corresponding New Testament story. At the main entrance, Bernini introduces a half octagon theme causing the appearance of a curve in the wall.

In contrast, the side aisles were designed by Bernini’s rival, Borromini. He was a less traditional classicist and liked to mess with things a little. His columns are not really columns but more like piers with scooped out corners.

At the joint of these piers and the beam that runs over the top of them, he decided to use little cherubs to act as supports. Kind of a funny image, really. It could potentially be compared with caryatids.

Since this basilica was originally built in the time when the Roman Empire was becoming Christian, it contains a lot of Roman elements. For instance, the brass columns over the tabernacle.

One of the coolest in my opinion is the fact the main doors were taken from the Roman Senate House. The fact that Christianity outlasted the Roman Empire is obvious everywhere here in Rome, but the symbolism of using the Senate doors as the entrance to the church that seats the Authority of the Church is very powerful.

I’m sure you’re getting a little tired of early Christian churches (although I don’t know how you could get tired of them….) Next week, we should be looking at a different type of Church. Then again, if I don’t get to it, you’ll be getting Baroque. Deal with it.