The Lateran

A conference to be held at the British School at Via Antonio Gramsci, 61, Roma,

19th-21st September, 2016

This interdisciplinary conference hosted by the British School at Rome, sponsored by Newcastle University, the Università degli Studi di Firenze and the University of Amsterdam School of Historical Studies and organised in conjunction with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR). The convenors are Ian Haynes, Paolo Liverani and Lex Bosman. It brings together specialists in archaeology, architecture, art history, history, liturgy and topography to discuss recent research on S. Giovanni in Laterano. As the first public building for Christian worship and the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome the site is of exceptional importance. Papers will address the origins of the site, its topographical context, the building, its history and its decorative scheme up to 1600.

Entry to the conference is free, but those wishing to attend are asked to register at [email protected] by 18th September, 2016. This will greatly assist in the administration of the conference. It is regretted that it is not possible to offer refreshments to non- speakers but a café / restaurant lies adjacent to the British School.

MONDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 09.00 – 14.00 CONFERENCE RECEPTION/REGISTRATION OPEN AT BSR 13.00 LUNCH

14.00 Welcome to the Colloquium by Professor Christopher Smith, Director BSR The Topography of the Lateran 14.15 Paolo Liverani – The evolution of the Lateran: from the domus to the Episcopal complex. 14.55 Rossela Rea – The archaeology of Metro Line C 15.40 Tea/Coffee The Lateran Before Constantine 16.00 Ian Haynes / Paolo Liverani /Giandomenico Spinola / Iwan Peverett - The Lateran Project and the Lateran before Constantine 16.40 Giandomenico Spinola – L’area lateranense: le prime fasi residenziali e una ipotesi sulla c.d. Insula Trapezoidale

17.20 Salvatore Piro / Ian Haynes / Paolo Liverani / Daniela Zamuner – Georadar in the Lateran Area

18.00-19.30 SPEAKERS’ RECEPTION BRITISH SCHOOL AT ROME

TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER The Constantinian Basilica * 09.30 Ralf Behrwald - The Lateran and Constantine's Christian foundations 10.10 Lex Bosman – Constantine’s spolia. A set of columns for S. Giovanni in Laterano and the ground plan of the first basilica 10.50 Bram Kempers – Connected Christian images on elevated beams facing the basilica: the imperial fastigium 11.30 COFFEE 11.45 Lex Bosman / Ian Haynes / Paolo Liverani / Iwan Peverett – Modelling the Constantinian Basilica 12.25 Discussion 13.00 LUNCH The Basilica in Late Antiquity 14.00 Sabina Francini – Andrea Busiri Vici, scavi del 1876: rilettura dei dati archeologici. 14.40 Rosamond McKitterick – The ‘Constantinian basilica’ in the early medieval Liber pontificalis. 15.20 Discussion 15.30 TEA COFFEE 15.45 Olof Brandt – The Lateran and the Oratorio S. Croce in the C4th/C5th 16.25 Paolo Liverani / Ian Haynes - The Nymphaeum of Hilarus 17.05 Discussion

18.00 -19.30 RECEPTION at the ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE IN ROME (KNIR)

WEDNESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER The Lateran Basilica in the Middle Ages 09.30 Lia Barelli– Esempi di tecniche costruttive medievali in S. Giovanni

10.10 Anna Maria De Strobel and Nicoletta Bernacchio – Il Portico medievale di San Giovanni in Laterano

10.50 Carola Jäggi – Visual media in the rivalry between S. Giovanni and S. Pietro 11.30 COFFEE 11.45 Peter Cornelius Claussen – Transept, apse and facade. The renovation of S. Giovanni in Laterano under pope Nicholas IV 12.25 Alessandro Ippoliti – The Piazza di Porta S. Giovanni 13.05 LUNCH Liturgy, Relics and Patronage in the Medieval Lateran 14.00 John F. Romano – Celebration and Tradition in the Medieval Papal Liturgy at the Lateran 14.40 Daniela Mondini– Furtum sacrum - furtum sacrilegum. The "Holy Heads" of Peter and Paul and their Reliquaries in the Lateran 15.20 TEA/COFFEE 15.35 Andrea de Marchi - Reconsidering the remains of Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello in the Lateran Basilica 16.15 Nadja Horsch – "... omnes exeunt et reintrant serpiendo transeuntes". Physical approach, devotional memory and the Lateran "palace relics", 15th to 16th centuries 16.55 Filip Malesevic - The Book of Acts in the Constantinian Basilica Cardinal Cesare Baronio & the Navata Clementina in S. Giovanni in Laterano 17.35 Closing Remarks

THURSDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER 09.30-12.00 Tour of the Lateran Scavi LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE. PRE-REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL

Those wishing to attend are asked to register at [email protected] (Please meet at the Lateran Baptistery entrance at 09.30 prompt)

ABSTRACTS MONDAY 19th SEPTEMBER The Topography of the Lateran Paolo Liverani – The evolution of the Lateran: from the domus to the Episcopal complex. The Lateran area is a privileged place for the study of the ancient topography of Rome. Several excavations give us a relatively accurate idea of the , although many of them are only partially published. We also have valuable references to the Caelian in the written sources, which need to be interpreted from both a philological and a historical and topographical point of view. The paper tries to give an updated overview of the situation, proposing revisions and corrections of some relevant issues at the center of discussion in recent years. It will focus in more detail on the issue of private houses and the first seat of the Bishop of Rome in connection with the Lateran Basilica. The aim is to outline in a more precise way the urban evolution of the Lateran, which is particularly important in the transition from mid-imperial Rome to the late antique and early medieval city. Rossela Rea – The archaeology of Metro Line C The Lateran Before Constantine Ian Haynes / Paolo Liverani /Giandomenico Spinola / Iwan Peverett- The Lateran Project and the Lateran before Constantine Multiple structural elements of earlier buildings are accessible beneath the Archbasilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano, in some cases as much as 8.5 m below the modern ground surface. Components of lavish housing, barrack ranges and the principia of the Severan Castra Nova equitum singularium, a bath house, a large courtyard building of C2nd date, substantial elements of the Constantinian Basilica, parts of the oratory of S. Croce and what is believed to be the Nymphaeum of Pope Hilarus are all preserved within this space. The Lateran Project seeks to document these elements and works with a range of specialists to analyse them and the structures exposed beneath the Lateran Baptistery. This paper will outline the challenges of analysing the remaining evidence and will focus in particular on the Castra Nova equitum singularium the fort of the imperial horse guards destroyed by Constantine to make way for his Basilica. Giandomenico Spinola – L’area lateranense: le prime fasi residenziali e una ipotesi sulla c.d. Insula Trapezoidale In concomitanza con le nuove indagini e documentazioni archeologiche è opportuno anche riesaminare alcune strutture già venute alla luce negli scavi ottocenteschi e novecenteschi, allo scopo di proporre alcune nuove ipotesi interpretative. In particolare è possibile offrire alcune osservazioni sulle prime occupazioni abitative nell’area sotto la basilica e tentare di fornire un’interpretazione sulla funzione della c.d. Insula Trapezoidale. Riguardo l’edificio inizialmente caratterizzato da murature in opera quasi reticolata, con brevi ricorsi in opera laterizia di tegole fratte, si può ritenere di riconoscervi parti di una villa suburbana costruita tra la metà e la seconda metà del I sec. a.C. La parte residenziale può essere solo intuita al di sotto delle strutture delle strigae dei Castra Nova Equitum Singularium e della c.d. Insula Trapezoidale, verso il percorso viario principale a ovest (via Tusculana) e orientata con esso; nella metà orientale è invece la parte rustica, distribuita intorno ad un cortile a pilastri (sotto i principia) e orientata con un percorso extraurbano. Dopo alcune fasi intermedie, intorno alla metà del II sec. d.C. la parte rustica del complesso viene trasformata con un riutilizzo residenziale che prevede, tra gli altri interventi, l’abolizione di un terrazzamento. La c.d. Insula Trapezoidale, coeva ai Castra, per cui si era recentemente ipotizzata la funzione di macellum, potrebbe invece essere reinterpretata – per la struttura e gli apparati decorativi – come sede collegiale degli equites e, forse, anche residenza dei suoi ufficiali.

Salvatore Piro / Ian Haynes / Paolo Liverani / Daniela Zamuner – Georadar in the Lateran Area The Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran) is the Pope’s Cathedral and the first public building constructed for Christian worship. Alongside it lies the first Baptistery in western Christendom. The complex has been the focus of sundry excavations since the 1730s. These have revealed traces of the earliest phases of both buildings, along with parts of the Castra Nova of the Imperial Horseguard, a bath complex and palatial housing. Interpretation of these excavations is, however, difficult; and most are either undocumented or only partially recorded. The Lateran project is investigating the entire complex to integrate information from standing buildings, excavated structures and sub-surface features. It seeks to understand the stratigraphic, spatial and functional relationships of the different elements underlying the modern complex. The aim of the GPR survey is to identify Roman and high-medieval age remains which could enhance understanding of the ancient topography and the urban evolution of the study area. During 2012-2015, a series of GPR surveys were conducted below the basilica, inside the archaeological area, and outside the basilica, to demonstrate the potential of this method for this analysis and to locate the expected archaeological structures.

Sabina Francini – Andrea Busiri Vici, scavi del 1876: rilettura dei dati archeologici. Nel 1876 Andrea Busiri Vici intraprendeva lavori di scavo nell’area dell’abside della Basilica Lateranense, evidenziando la presenza, oltre dell’abside costantiniana, di una serie di strutture di periodi e tipologie diverse. La documentazione eseguita durante i lavori (tavole acquerellate e una fotografia), realizzati dallo stesso architetto, è conservata in parte nell’archivio privato della famiglia Busiri Vici e in parte nel Fondo Lanciani a Palazzo Venezia. Nel 1877 l’allontanamento, da parte della Commissione lateranense, di Andrea Busiri Vici, che proponeva soluzioni alternative alla distruzione dell’abside di Niccolò IV, effettuata qualche mese più tardi da Virginio Vespignani, ha probabilmente interrotto l’ottimo lavoro di documentazione delle strutture antiche emerse. Il parziale vuoto di documentazione è stato poi aggravato dalla sistemazione dell’area absidale e del Portico leoniano che, di fatto, ha obliterato molti dei ritrovamenti ottocenteschi. La rilettura della documentazione permette quindi un aggiornamento sulle conoscenze del sito, in particolare delle strutture antiche precedenti alla costruzione della Basilica costantiniana.

TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER The Constantinian Basilica Ralf Behrwald - The Lateran and Constantine's Christian foundations Lex Bosman – Constantine’s spolia. A set of columns for S. Giovanni in Laterano and the ground plan of the first basilica The reconstruction of S. Giovanni in Laterano by Krautheimer and others has left us with several important and unsolved questions. A new reconstruction of a part the Early Christian basilica will be discussed in this paper. Whereas the reconstruction of this Early Christian basilica with a nave and four aisles, and with an apse but without a transept is generally accepted, the material of which this building was constructed is less obvious. Confronted with a lack of written sources we have to rely on other kinds of research. A combination of various sorts of evidence corroborates the reconstruction by Krautheimer of the two rows of nave columns of red granite. Two yellow marble columns which since the end of the sixteenth century support the organ tribune however are never mentioned in relation to the reconstruction of the fourth-century church-basilica. In fact they can be traced back to their medieval presence in the portico on the east side of the building. Their similarities with the equally yellow marble columns on the support the notion that they belong to the original, early fourth-century structure of the Basilica Constantiniana. The obvious question where they may have been positioned in the Early Christian basilica can be answered by using the archaeological evidence under the basilica. Part of a foundation running west-east underneath the south transept offers a very likely foundation for a colonnade of two yellow columns on both the north and the south side as a continuation of the rows of green marble columns between the inner and the outer aisles. The arguments for and the consequences of this new reconstruction will be discussed in this paper. Bram Kempers – Connected Christian images on elevated beams facing the basilica: the imperial fastigium Lex Bosman, Ian Haynes, Paolo Liverani, Iwan Peverett – Modelling the Constantinian Basilica A long-standing objective for the Lateran Project has been to draw on structural evidence from the Lateran scavi to model the Constantinian Basilica. Lex Bosman has similarly sought to model the structure, initially from observation of the fabric of the standing Archbasilica. This paper is the first public presentation of the happy and essential collaboration between these two approaches. Using state of the art visualisation techniques, Iwan Peverett of New Visions/Newcastle University has worked with the team to produce a range of possible models of the interior and exterior of the Constantinian Basilica. As the paper will demonstrate, the modelling process is itself an important vehicle for analysis, driving and being driven by evolving debates about the structure, its decoration and its illumination. The essential point, that formal architectural visualisation makes particularly explicit areas of understanding, confusion and contention will be stressed throughout. The Basilica in Late Antiquity Rosamond McKitterick – The ‘Constantinian basilica’ in the early medieval Liber pontificalis. The remarkable text known as the Liber pontificalis is a serial biography of the popes from the first bishop of Rome St Peter, first compiled in the middle of the sixth century in the style of Roman imperial biography, and subsequently extended in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. It survives in manuscripts from the late eighth and early ninth centuries, and offers very particular representations of both the popes and the transformation of the city of Rome. A dramatic portion of the text is Life 34 of Pope Silvester I, which credits the establishment of the of St Peter, St Paul and the ‘Constantinian’ basilica and baptistery, that is the Lateran, to the Emperor Constantine. St Peter’s basilica, and its various functions as one key focus of the stational liturgy, venue for councils, pilgrimage site, art treasure and holy place is especially prominent, not least in enhancing and promoting papal authority. Further, the narrative strategies deployed by the authors of the Liber pontificalis in relation to St Paul and the imperial basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura present very interesting comparisons and contrasts with the Liber pontificalis’s representation of St Peter and St Peter’s basilica. This paper, however, will concentrate on the Liber pontificalis’s representation of the Constantinian basilica in the Liber pontificalis and determine its role in the text and in the representation of the pope from its foundation in Life 34 to the significance of the basilica for Pope Stephen V in Life 112. One oddity about the Liber pontificalis is that it never refers to the Constantinian basilica as dedicated to St John. That information is supplied in liturgical books such as the Sacramentaries and Lectionaries extant in Frankish manuscripts. This prompts a reflection on the Constantinian basilica’s liturgical role within Rome that casts further light on the possible implications and peculiarities of the basilica’s representation in the Liber ponificalis itself. Olof Brandt – The Lateran Baptistery and the Oratorio S. Croce in the C4th/C5th Research of the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana on the Lateran Baptistery during the last two decades has resolved some of the many questions left open by the excavations inside the baptistery in the Twenties and around it in the Sixties. This research has been coordinated by myself and Federico Guidobaldi and has involved the PIAC, the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome, the Vatican Museums and the Swedish National Heritage board. Among new certainties one may mention: The octagonal plan of the first, Constantinian phase The identification of the foundations of the Oratory of Santa Croce The identification of the preserved height of the walls of the Constantinian phase The fact that the reconstructions attributed to the fifth-century Popes Sixtus III and Hilarus must be part of the same project A 3D documentation has been created as an instrument for research and for reconstructions. Unresolved questions: How the building was covered, and if it had an inner colonnade The place of the first phase in the development of Late Antique architecture. Paolo Liverani / Ian Haynes - The Nymphaeum of Pope Hilarus This paper represents the arguments, first advanced by Paolo Liverani, for the identification of a water feature within the Lateran scavi as the Nymphaeum of Hilarus. The feature has been extensively surveyed and laser scanned as part of the Lateran Project and these results, alongside earlier attempts to analyse the structure will be presented. WEDNESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER The Lateran Basilica in the Middle Ages Lia Barelli– Esempi di tecniche costruttive medievali in S. Giovanni Nella basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano in età medievale si sono succeduti numerosi interventi di trasformazione, anche di rilevante impegno costruttivo, non sempre però identificabili con facilità dal punto di vista materiale. In particolare ci si sofferma su due di essi, estremamente significativi per le tecniche edilizie utilizzate: il perduto portico anteriore realizzato da papa Sergio II (844-847), che le fonti grafiche permettono di inserire tra gli esempi tipici di tecnica costruttiva del periodo carolingio a Roma, e il transetto con i due campanili addossati al lato settentrionale. In questo secondo caso l'evidenza materiale testimonia sia che la collocazione cronologica della costruzione debba riferirsi con ogni probabilità al pontificato di Nicola IV (1288-1292), sia una particolare raffinatezza esecutiva, adeguata all'eccezionale importanza dell'opera.

Anna Maria De Strobel and Nicoletta Bernacchio – Il Portico medievale di San Giovanni in Laterano

Nel 2009 sono stati rinvenuti nei depositi dei Musei Vaticani 42 frammenti in marmo bianco con inserti decorativi a cosmatesco. Grazie alle iscrizioni presenti su alcuni di essi, questi frammenti sono stati identificati come provenienti dal portico medievale di San Giovanni in Laterano, distrutto nel 1732. Poco dopo lo smontaggio dell’antica facciata, le lastre furono riutilizzate nel nuovo pavimento del Portico Sistino della basilica lateranense. Le ricerche condotte su questi frammenti hanno permesso di capire che si trattava di ciò che restava del fregio della fronte del portico, costituito da un’alternanza di riquadri e dischi delimitati da una fascia in opera cosmatesca e riempiti con mosaici, alcuni dei quali figurati e con brevi iscrizioni esplicative. I frammenti sono stati riassemblati dove era possibile e restaurati dai Laboratori di Restauro dei Marmi e dei Mosaici dei Musei Vaticani, mentre sono state compiute indagini sui materiali compositivi dal Laboratorio di Diagnostica dei Musei Vaticani. In contemporanea, sono state effettuate ricerche bibliografiche e archivistiche che hanno permesso di recuperare la storia del portico e dei suoi elementi nel corso dei secoli, procedendo anche alla ricostruzione grafica dell’insieme. In particolare sono stati acquisiti nuovi dati sulle colonne che componevano il portico e sui loro spostamenti. Questi nuovi dati saranno presentati nell’ambito dell’intervento.

Carola Jäggi – Visual media in the rivalry between S. Giovanni and S. Pietro In the collective memory of Western Christendom it is the basilica of St. Peter’s that is the mother church of Latin Christianity. However, this rank officially appertains to S. Giovanni in Laterano built by Constantine as the Cathedral of Rome, while the church of St. Peter’s is “only” the memorial basilica erected over the tomb of St. Peter by the same Constantine some years after the erection of the Lateran basilica dedicated to Christ the Saviour. The fact that today the Lateran is no longer perceived as the Cathedral of Rome might go back to the 14th century, when the Popes returned from Avignon and re-established their Roman residence near the basilica of St. Peter. But already as early as the sixth century Pope Symmachus (498- 514) erected episcopia on both sides of the atrium of St. Peter’s and copied the display of the Lateran baptistery with its three oratories in the baptistery of St. Peter. This was a highly symbolic act, directed against his opponent Laurentius, who was elected antipope in the very same year as Symmachus. In later centuries it was mostly in periods of conflict that the two basilicas – S. Giovanni in Laterano and St. Peter’s – assumed an important role as places of display of rival interests. The very location where the popes of the 11-13th centuries were buried is as indicative of this rivalry as is the form of their tombs. And from the 12th century onwards the chapters of the two basilicas constantly referred to the history and tradition of their houses to claim their supremacy among the Roman churches. This paper tries to investigate the visual strategies of these claims in architecture, tombs, relics and images. Peter Cornelius Claussen – Transept, apse and facade. The renovation of S. Giovanni in Laterano under pope Nicholas IV The transformation of S. Giovanni in Laterano, which started under pope Nicolas IV (1288– 92) was the largest building project in high medieval Rome. What are the motivs, which forced this pope to demolish the apses and to erect new apses, transepts and façades of the Lateran-church and of S. Maria Maggiore, whose walls were sanctified by legends? The focus of my considerations lies on the transept of S. Giovanni in Laterano. Form and function of the little transept aisle of Constantinian origin, excavated in the south part, is not very clear and nothing is left of a possible transept of the 12th century. With some new arguments I hope to stimulate a discussion about the northern entrance situation towards Campus Lateranensis and the city in 1200 and during Trecento.

Alessandro Ippoliti – Il fronte orientale del complesso del Laterano in epoca moderna La necessità di risolvere compiutamente la scena architettonica del fronte orientale del Laterano, inserendolo in un contesto non più indefinito e dal carattere extra-urbano, adeguato al prestigio della Basilica, è un tema centrale per la storia del complesso in epoca moderna. Il contributo, partendo dall’abbandono della Porta Asinaria in favore della nuova porta S. Giovanni voluta da Gregorio XIII (1572-1585) su disegno di Giacomo del Duca, vuole ripercorrere i progetti e le realizzazioni dell’area affrontando le scelte operate da Sisto V (1585-1590) e Domenico Fontana, da Innocenzo X (1644-1655) e Francesco Borromini, per arrivare alle soluzioni settecentesche centrate sulla nuova facciata della Basilica, sul completamento del palazzo Apostolico e sulla liberazione dell’area antistante dai resti del Triclinio Leoniano.

Liturgy, Relics and Patronage in the Medieval Lateran John F. Romano – Celebration and Tradition in the Medieval Papal Liturgy at the Lateran The basilica of the Lateran hosted three of the most pivotal papal liturgies of the Roman ecclesiastical calendar – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and the Easter Vigil. Due to their importance and infrequency, these feasts are well described in medieval sources. These celebrations, which commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus, featured unique and dramatic observances like the blessing and distribution of palms, the blessing of new oils, the washing of feet, the lighting of the new paschal candle, the chanting of fitting Biblical texts, and the baptism of infants. The action of the liturgy made use not only of the church, but also of the atrium and the baptistery of the Lateran. Although worship is sometimes characterized as having become ossified in the Middle Ages, the clergy did in fact allow modification and even experimentation in their liturgies. Perhaps the greatest single change came in the rite of reconciliation of penitents on Maundy Thursday, which once had the pope interceding for the people of the city for forgiveness of their sins; this allowed them to rejoin the faithful in taking the Eucharist at Mass. However, starting in the thirteenth century, the pope took the opportunity to excommunicate sinners to exclude them from the Eucharist.

Daniela Mondini– Furtum sacrum - furtum sacrilegum. The "Holy Heads" of Peter and Paul and their Reliquaries in the Lateran The “Holy Heads“ of Peter and Paul, attested in the 11th century within a secondary altar of the Laurentius-Oratory in the Patriarchium Lateranense and later on inside the main altar of the Sancta Sanctorum, increased their status exponentially after having been transferred by Pope Urban V (1368-70) into the Lateran Basilica. Imbedded in two huge, lavishly decorated anthropomorphic reliquaries realized by the Sienese goldsmith Giovanni di Bartolo they were enclosed high up, in the “safe“ of the new tabernacle above the main altar of the Cathedral of Rome. The new mise-en-scène emphasized their role as symbols of the double apostolicity of Rome and of the Roman Church restored after the (temporary) return of the Papacy from Avignon. In the late 14th and15th Century the Capita apostolorum became one of the most prestigious and popular treasures of relics in Rome in competition with the Veronica at the Vatican. As objects of desire the holy remains of the skulls of Peter and Paul in their precious containers – displayed only few times a year – attracted not only pilgrims, but also thieves. A lost fresco cycle in the transept realized shortly after the attempt to steal some jewels and gems from the reliquaries of Peter and Paul on the occasion of their display at Easter 1438 should have deterred potential thieves with its representation of the cruel punishments bestowed on the alleged culprits. Andrea de Marchi - Reconsidering the remains of Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello in the Lateran Basilica In 1998 I published a fragment of the lost frescoes by Gentile da Fabriano, a frieze with foliated scrolls, surviving at the top of the right wall of the Lateran Basilica, at the end of the nave towards the main altar. In that instance I reconsidered all the documentary sources about the mural paintings leaved by Gentile and Pisanello in the basilica and I supported the idea that the cycle was projected for both walls, devoted to the life of St. John Baptist and St. John the Divine, but uncompleted by Pisanello himself. The Veronese painter worked probably until the eighth story (eleventh, according to other scholars) of the St. John Baptist cycle. I want to reconsider now the three other erratic fragments, that are reliable to the lost mural cycle: the so-called head of David of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the remains of a colossal head in the south-east corner of the Lateran Closter, considered by Bramante according a fanciful tradition, and the female head in the Museo nazionale di palazzo Venezia, by Pisanello. For the last piece I propose a new iconographic context in the St. John Baptist cycle. Nadja Horsch – "... omnes exeunt et reintrant serpiendo transeuntes". Physical approach, devotional memory and the Lateran "palace relics", 15th to 16th centuries Compared to St. Peter´s, the privileged Roman pilgrimage destination since Early Christian times, the story of relic veneration at the Lateran is more ambiguous. There was no saint´s sepulchre as the devotional and liturgical focus of the church, and its principal relics had a strangely "abstract" character. Throughout the Middle Ages, different strategies were used to improve the reception of the Lateran relics, focusing principally on increased visibility. Though, the peak of "making present" relics was reached with the fifteenth century, when a singular "reliquization" of several objects in the old took place, overlapping the abandoned patriarchíum with a new, sacred memorial topography (the palace of Pilate and other Holy Land sites). Many of these new relics were venerated in a particular performative and haptic way by the pilgrims who compared for example, their bodies´ height to the "mensura Christi", passed the "doorways of the palace of Pilate" and kneeled up the "Scala Santa", kissing the bloodstains which the Saviour had left on its steps. The paper will locate the "palace relics" into the Lateran´s traditions and analyze the reception strategies and veneration practices related to them, focusing especially on the role of materiality and physical approach as devotional means. Filip Malesevic - The Book of Acts in the Constantinian Basilica Cardinal Cesare Baronio & the Navata Clementina in S. Giovanni in Laterano When in 1592 the newly elected pontiff Clement VIII paid a visitation to Rome’s principal church of San Giovanni in Laterano, he immediately decided to renovate the basilica’s transept along with installing at its southern end a separate altar where the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist would be preserved. Through this architectural intervention which consequently transferred the Canon’s Sacristy outside the church interior, it was soon clear that the navata clementina would need a fitting iconographic programme to embellish the new architecture. Until today, it remains unclear who devised the group of artists who carried out the decoration also in expectance to the Jubilee Year of 1600 with the iconographic programme that would encompass eight large scenes taken from the life of Emperor . The following paper assumes for the first time in scholarship with a specific perspective on the current debate around the reform of the Roman rite, which was already being carried out after the norm of the Tridentine council immediately after the council’s end in 1563, that the newly elected Cardinal and Oratorian from Sora Cesare Baronio who composed the first official catholic historiography of the Roman Church, the Annales Ecclesiastici, had an important but yet unnoticed role in the design of the new architecture and its iconographic programme.