Rome: Papal Basilica – St John Lateran

Papal Basilica of St John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano) is located near the Porta San Giovanni, a gate in one of the walls of Ancient Rome.

The Basilica seemed a little bit out of the way to me (probably because I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to where we were going), but it wasn’t very far from a metro station and only a few stops from Termini.

The Basilica has the distinction of being the seat of the Bishop of Rome, who also happens to be the Pope.

The inside, like the previous Papal Basilicas, is very large, very grand, and beautifully decorated.

The impressively large baldacchino holds statues of St Paul and St Peter

Along the sides are larger than life sculptures of the Apostles, with St Peter and St Paul closest to the altar.

We didn’t spend a whole lot of time here, and it was the last of the four major basilicas that we visited.