Description
The Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) is a flight of 28 white marble steps, next to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which according to tradition is the one Jesus climbed to reach Pontius Pilate. Visitors climb it on their knees, praying: it is one of the most heartfelt pilgrimage destinations in Rome.
At the top is the Sancta Sanctorum, the popes' private chapel until the early 1300s.
Medieval tradition, going back at least to the year 1000, says the staircase was brought to Rome in 326 by Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. The building that houses it was built by Domenico Fontana in 1589, at the wish of Sixtus V, in place of the old patriarchal palace.
When the steps were moved here they were laid starting from the top: not even the masons were meant to tread on them, only the knees of the faithful. Later they were covered with walnut boards to save them from wear. On either side are four more flights of stairs.
At the top, behind an iron grille, is the chapel. For centuries it was the most venerated place in Rome: above the altar an inscription says "There is no holier place in the whole world than this." The name comes from the relics it held, from the sandals of Jesus to the heads of Saints Peter and Paul; many are now lost or kept elsewhere.
On the altar is the Acheiropoieton, a very ancient image of Christ that tradition holds was not painted by human hand. In 753, against Aistulf's Lombards, Pope Stephen II carried it in procession on his own shoulders. In the 1200s Innocent III had it covered with a sheet of silver.
The chapel has the look Nicholas III gave it after the earthquake of 1277, with a cycle of 13th-century frescoes: in one the kneeling pope offers the model of the chapel. On the sides you can see the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul and of Saints Stephen and Lawrence.
The Cosmatesque floor bears a signature: "Magister Cosmatus fecit hoc opus." Below runs the Loggia of the Saints, painted under Sixtus V in 1590. In the atrium, in the 1800s, sculptures were added such as the Kiss of Judas by Ignazio Jacometti.
Under the altar, in a cypress chest closed by two bronze doors, the treasure stayed shut from 1521 until 1902. The gold, silver and ivory reliquaries, studied in 1905, then ended up in the Sacred Museum of the Vatican Library.
Don't miss
• The Scala Santa.
• The Sancta Sanctorum chapel.
• The Acheiropoieton.
• The Cosmatesque floor.
Did you know?
• Pius IX climbed the Scala Santa on his knees on September 19, 1870, on the eve of the capture of Rome.
• The shrine is part of the Lateran: it is a property of the Holy See and enjoys extraterritoriality.
At the top is the Sancta Sanctorum, the popes' private chapel until the early 1300s.
Medieval tradition, going back at least to the year 1000, says the staircase was brought to Rome in 326 by Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. The building that houses it was built by Domenico Fontana in 1589, at the wish of Sixtus V, in place of the old patriarchal palace.
When the steps were moved here they were laid starting from the top: not even the masons were meant to tread on them, only the knees of the faithful. Later they were covered with walnut boards to save them from wear. On either side are four more flights of stairs.
At the top, behind an iron grille, is the chapel. For centuries it was the most venerated place in Rome: above the altar an inscription says "There is no holier place in the whole world than this." The name comes from the relics it held, from the sandals of Jesus to the heads of Saints Peter and Paul; many are now lost or kept elsewhere.
On the altar is the Acheiropoieton, a very ancient image of Christ that tradition holds was not painted by human hand. In 753, against Aistulf's Lombards, Pope Stephen II carried it in procession on his own shoulders. In the 1200s Innocent III had it covered with a sheet of silver.
The chapel has the look Nicholas III gave it after the earthquake of 1277, with a cycle of 13th-century frescoes: in one the kneeling pope offers the model of the chapel. On the sides you can see the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul and of Saints Stephen and Lawrence.
The Cosmatesque floor bears a signature: "Magister Cosmatus fecit hoc opus." Below runs the Loggia of the Saints, painted under Sixtus V in 1590. In the atrium, in the 1800s, sculptures were added such as the Kiss of Judas by Ignazio Jacometti.
Under the altar, in a cypress chest closed by two bronze doors, the treasure stayed shut from 1521 until 1902. The gold, silver and ivory reliquaries, studied in 1905, then ended up in the Sacred Museum of the Vatican Library.
Don't miss
• The Scala Santa.
• The Sancta Sanctorum chapel.
• The Acheiropoieton.
• The Cosmatesque floor.
Did you know?
• Pius IX climbed the Scala Santa on his knees on September 19, 1870, on the eve of the capture of Rome.
• The shrine is part of the Lateran: it is a property of the Holy See and enjoys extraterritoriality.