Roma No. 5 / Vaticano
Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Results: 20 records
B01: design element - motifs - ring handle - 4?
Scene Description: a pair on each of the long sides of the basin, below the rim
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
LB01: design element - motifs - moulding
Scene Description: several; parallel
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
R01: design element - patterns - scrollwork
Scene Description: all around the upper rim
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Éditions de la Réunion des musées Nationaux, 2003
Image Source: Malgouyre (2003)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of baptistery - plan
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lasteyrie, 1929
Image Source: Lasteyrie (1929: fig. 97)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of baptistery exterior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery interior - canopy
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery interior - floor - detail
Scene Description: one of the brass plates decorated with baptismal symbols
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery interior - floor - detail
Scene Description: one of the brass plates decorated with baptismal symbols
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery interior - floor - detail
Scene Description: one of the brass plates decorated with baptismal symbols
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of baptistery interior - floor - mosaic
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of church exterior - façade
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of church interior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lasteyrie, 1929
Image Source: Lasteyrie (1929: fig. 98)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of church interior - plan
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Corblet (1881: v. 2, p. 41)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Éditions de la Réunion des musées Nationaux, 2003
Image Source: Malgouyre (2003)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of font in context
Scene Description: an actual baptism in progress at the time the photograph was taken
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 29, 2007
view of font in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Davies, 1962
Image Source: Davies (1962: pl. 2)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
FontID: 02295LAT
Object Type: Baptismal Font3
Church/Chapel: San Giovanni in Laterano
Church Patron Saints: St. John
Church Location: P.za. San Giovanni In Laterano, 00184 Roma RM, Italy: +39 06 6988 6433
Country Name: Italy
Location: Roma, Lazio
Font Location in Church: In the baptistery building, outside the main body of the cathedral
Date: ca. 432-444?
Century and Period: 4th - 5th century, Early Christian
Church Notes: The main baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano is called "San Giovanni in Fonte" and was built by Constantine the Great (Albrecht-Gott, 1987: 70)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Described and illustrated in Davies (1962). Described in Elorriaga (1998): though much of the baptistry is of later construction and re-construction -16th and 17th centuries- the original buildings were founded by Emperor Constantin in the 4th century and the baptistry has some of the original mosaics. There is supposed to be (have been?) an inscription by Leo the Great. Favreau (1985) reports an inscription (cf. Inscription] by Pope Sixtus III on the porphyry columns of the baptistry. Nordström (1984) dates the inscription to ca. 440 [after Paul Underwood]. Malle (1994) describes the basalt tub in the middle of the baptismal pool; the railing surrounding it is octagonal and eight is the number of the porphyry columns; there are three steps leading down to the pool. Delcor (1973), however, states that there is no apparent vestige of the Constantine period, and that the lower part of the monument is the work of pope Sixtus III. The font is illustrated in Corblet (1881)
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 41.8859055, 12.5061555
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 41° 53′ 9″ N, 12° 30′ 22″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, basalt (green) & porphyry
Font Shape: tub-shaped
Basin Interior Shape: oval
Basin Exterior Shape: oval
INSCRIPTION
Inscription Language: Latin
Inscription Notes: Favreau's source seems the most reliable, hence we are using his text. Translation: "This is the source of life originating in Christ's own wounds which has washed the whole earth." -- There is a longer inscription carved on the epistyles of the baptistery, not entered here [full text available in Davies (1962: 40) after Underwood and Dölger]
Inscription Location: On the porphyry columns
Inscription Text: "FONS HIC EST VITAE QUI TOTUM DILUIT ORBEM SUMENS DE CHRISTI VULNERE PRINCIPIUM"
Inscription Source: Favreau (1985: 125); also in Elorriaga (1998: 523); partially in Nordström (1984: 11-12)
LID INFORMATION
Date: 17th century
Notes: source of dating not available/not recorded
REFERENCES
Albrecht-Gott, Marianne, Rome and Latium: a Phaidon Cultural Guide, Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1987
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Corblet, Jules, Histoire dogmatique, liturgique et archéologique du sacrement de baptême, Paris: V. Palme, 1881-1882
Davies, J.G., The Architectural Setting of Baptism, London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962
Delcor, M., "Les cuves romanes et leur figuration en Roussillon, Cerdagne et Conflent", 4, Cahiers Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, 1973, pp. 96-109, 4 pl.; p. 97
Elorriaga, Carlos, Bautismo y catecumenado en la tradición patrística y litúrgica: una selección de textos, Baracaldo: Grafite Ediciones, 1998
Favreau, Robert, "Inscription des fonts baptismaux d'Hildesheim", 38, 2, Cahiers de civilisation medievale, 1985, pp. 115-140; p. 125 for the inscription
Malle, Louis, Sources du baptême: découvrir les baptistères et les fonts baptismaux, Paris: Éditions de l'atelier, 1994
Nordström, Folke, Mediaeval Baptismal Fonts: An Iconographical Study, Stockholm: Universitetet i Umeå, 1984