Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
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40 free Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
St. John Lateran is the church many visitors to Rome walk past on the way to somewhere more famous, yet it outranks them all. It is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, it is older than any other basilica in the West, and for about a thousand years the palace next door was where the popes lived. This quiz collects the best fun facts about the Lateran: emperors and ancient Roman estates, relics and legends, medieval trials and councils, Baroque rebuilding, and the monuments that crowd the square outside, including the Holy Stairs, the baptistery and a towering Egyptian obelisk. It suits pilgrims planning a visit, students of church history and art, and anyone who enjoys the stranger corners of Rome's past. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the story behind each fact as you play.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Pope Stephen VI tried an earlier pope, Formosus, in St. John Lateran in 897 despite what obstacle?
The accused was dead
The accused was dead: the corpse of Formosus was dug up and questioned in the trial later nicknamed the Cadaver Synod. Found guilty, it had three fingers of its right hand cut off.
Q 02Which famous church is often mistaken for the pope's cathedral, the rank St. John Lateran really holds?
St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica hosts most papal ceremonies because of its size, but it is not a cathedral at all. The pope's official seat as Bishop of Rome is across the city at the Lateran.
Q 03Which country's head of state automatically becomes the sole honorary canon of St. John Lateran?
France
France has held the honour since King Henry IV, and the title of First and Only Honorary Canon passed from its kings to its presidents.
Q 04The bronze central doors of St. John Lateran were taken in 1660 from which building in the Roman Forum?
The Senate House
The Senate House, or Curia Julia, lost its doors to the Lateran on the orders of Pope Alexander VII. A coin found inside them during the move dated the doors to the reign of Domitian.
Q 05How must pilgrims climb the 28 marble Holy Stairs kept in a sanctuary near St. John Lateran?
On their knees
On their knees is the only way pilgrims may go up the Holy Stairs; four ordinary staircases alongside serve everyone else. Several popes have made the same climb.
Q 06Pope Innocent III is said to have dreamed of which saint holding up the Lateran basilica?
Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi won the pope over after the dream, and Innocent gave the new order of friars his blessing. A fresco of the dream is among the best-known scenes in the basilica at Assisi.
Q 07By tradition, the Lateran's Holy Stairs once led to the Jerusalem headquarters of which official?
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate's praetorium is where tradition places the steps, which Jesus is said to have walked on his way to trial. Medieval Romans simply called them the Stairs of Pilate.
Q 08Which Roman emperor gave the Lateran palace to the Bishop of Rome in the early fourth century?
Constantine I
Constantine I came to own the estate through his wife Fausta, and a council of bishops was already meeting in the donated palace within a few years.
Q 09Which future Protestant reformer climbed the Lateran's Holy Stairs in 1510 and reached the top in doubt?
Martin Luther
Martin Luther, then a young friar, said a prayer on every step but wondered at the top whether any of it was true. He posted his Ninety-five Theses seven years later.
Q 10Which Italian leader signed the 1929 Lateran Treaty for the king in the palace beside St. John Lateran?
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini signed for King Victor Emmanuel III, and Cardinal Pietro Gasparri for Pope Pius XI. The pact ended the long-running Roman question and recognised Vatican City as an independent state.
Q 11To which city did Pope Clement V move the papacy in 1309, ending the Lateran's time as the popes' home?
Avignon
Avignon hosted the popes for most of the 14th century. Two fires gutted the Lateran while they were away, and on their return they settled at the Vatican instead.
Q 12A plaque by the doors of St. John Lateran proclaims it what?
Mother and head of all churches
Mother and head of all churches, in Latin omnium ecclesiarum mater et caput, is the claim. It rests on the basilica's rank as cathedral of the Bishop of Rome.
Q 13The Egyptian obelisk beside St. John Lateran lay buried for centuries under which Roman racetrack?
Circus Maximus
Q 21Pope Clement XII, whose tomb is in St. John Lateran, began which famous fountain in Rome?
The Trevi
The Trevi was begun under Clement XII, who also bought a great collection of antiquities for the papal gallery. His tomb lies in the Corsini Chapel he built inside the basilica.
Q 22The papal high altar of St. John Lateran encloses an ancient altar of which unusual material?
Wood
Wood, by tradition the very table at which the earliest popes said Mass, sits inside the marble casing. Unlike most great Roman churches, the altar stands over no martyr's tomb.
Q 23What kind of disaster almost totally destroyed St. John Lateran in the 890s, long before its two great fires?
An earthquake
Circus Maximus was where the obelisk was raised in 357 and later toppled; its three broken pieces were dug out in 1587. It is the largest ancient Egyptian obelisk still standing anywhere.
Q 14Despite its popular name, St. John Lateran was first dedicated in 324 to whom?
Christ the Saviour
Christ the Saviour was the original dedication and remains the primary one. The two Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist, were added as co-patrons centuries later.
Q 15The word 'Lateran' in St. John Lateran recalls what, whose estate there was confiscated under Nero?
A wealthy Roman family
A wealthy Roman family, the Laterani, owned a palace on the site. Nero accused Plautius Lateranus of conspiracy and seized the property, which later passed into imperial hands.
Q 16Legend says which saint, an emperor's mother, brought the Lateran's Holy Stairs from Jerusalem?
Helena
Saint Helena is said to have brought the staircase to Rome around 326. Ancient tradition also makes her the finder of the True Cross during her tour of the Holy Land.
Q 17Why were the marble Holy Stairs near St. John Lateran boarded over in the 1720s?
Pilgrims were wearing them down
Pilgrims were wearing them down after centuries of devotion, so the marble was encased for protection. In 2019 the bare steps were briefly uncovered for the first time in almost 300 years.
Q 18Which bronze animal, now a famous symbol of Rome, stood at the Lateran Palace during the Middle Ages?
A she-wolf
A she-wolf, the Capitoline Wolf, gave its name to a spot at the papal palace where trials and executions were held. The bronze moved to the Capitoline Hill in 1471.
Q 19Which emperor's bronze equestrian statue stood by the Lateran until its 1538 move to the Capitoline Hill?
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius survived the medieval melting pots because the rider was mistaken for an emperor the Church revered. More than twenty other imperial bronzes on horseback were melted down.
Q 20A mosaic from Pope Leo III's banqueting hall at the Lateran shows which Frankish king receiving a banner?
Charlemagne
Charlemagne is shown being handed the standard, a picture of the Frankish king's duty to protect the Church. Leo III crowned him emperor in 800, and a copy of the mosaic made in 1743 still stands in the open air.
An earthquake brought the church down from the altar to the doors, in a chronicler's phrase. The rebuilt basilica kept the old dimensions and stood for four hundred years.
Q 24Substantial remains of what, built by Septimius Severus, lie directly beneath the nave of St. John Lateran?
A cavalry barracks
A cavalry barracks for the emperor's mounted bodyguard stood here from AD 193. The unit backed the losing side at the Milvian Bridge in 312, so it was abolished and its fort demolished.
Q 25The Lateran Baptistery, long the only baptistery in Rome, set a model across Italy with which ground plan?
An octagon
An octagon of eight porphyry columns rings the font, which was built for baptism by full immersion. The design even became a motif in illuminated manuscripts, the Fountain of Life.
Q 26Which part of the medieval monastery beside St. John Lateran survives, famed for its glittering inlaid marble?
The cloister
The cloister dates from the early 13th century and is the work of Vassalletto and the Cosmati marble workers. Monks who lived around it once provided the basilica's services.
Q 27In the 12th century, St. John Lateran's canons claimed their high altar held which biblical treasure?
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant, along with other holy objects from Jerusalem, was said to lie inside the altar. The claim cast the basilica as the Temple of the New Covenant.
Q 28Which Baroque contemporary of Bernini remodelled the nave of St. John Lateran for Pope Innocent X?
Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini wrapped the ancient columns in huge piers and left twelve niches along the nave. They stayed empty for decades until statues of the Apostles filled them.
Q 29Alessandro Galilei, a distant relative of Galileo, won a contest to design which part of St. John Lateran?
The main façade
The main façade was finished in 1735 after Galilei beat more than twenty rival architects. Pope Clement XII had called him to Rome only four years earlier to build a family chapel in the same church.
Q 30Among the nave statues of the Apostles in St. John Lateran, who stands in for Judas Iscariot?
Saint Paul
Saint Paul takes the twelfth niche rather than Matthias, the usual replacement. The marble giants were carved between 1704 and 1718 by the leading sculptors of late Baroque Rome.