San Giovanni in Laterano and Scala Santa
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Besides its grandiose Baroque bulk, visible from all over Rome, this former papal complex boasts the world’s very first baptistry, its octagonal shape the model for all those to come. A building on the piazza houses the Scala Santa, claimed to be the staircase from Pontius Pilate’s house that Jesus ascended to face his trial - devout believers climb the 28 steps on their knees. Tradition says that the stairs were brought from Jerusalem by St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine (see San Giovanni in Laterano).
Practical Information
Piazza di S Giovanni in Laterano
Open 7am-7pm daily (cloisters: 7am-6pm; baptistry 7:30am- 12:30pm, 4-7pm) Adm to cloisters
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