The Lateran in 16001995

Through an examination of the pope's own church, the Cathedral of Rome, The Lateran in 1600: Christian Concord in Counter-Reformation Rome redefines a critical moment in the history of art between the Renaissance and the baroque. The first basilica built by Constantine the Great, San Giovanni in Laterano was the undisputed center of Christendom throughout the Middle Ages. With the transfer of the official papal residence to the Vatican in the Renaissance, however, Saint Peter's gradually absorbed the Lateran's preeminence. At the height of the Counter-Reformation, with concern for the Church's early Christian heritage at its peak, Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) lavishly restored Constantine's church and revived its spiritual authority. Clement's vision, expressed through artistic means, exalts the perpetual Christian triumph embodied in the Lateran.