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After his victory over Maxentius in 312 AD and the Edict of Milan of 313, which proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the Empire, Constantine donated the basilica as an ex voto offering to the African pope Melchiades (311-314 AD). In addition, Constantine donated the adjacent (right) domus ecclesiae which became the Lateran palace and remained the official residence of the popes until their return from Avignon in 1377, at which time the popes took up residence at the Vatican. Still considered the Omnium urbiset orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput (the mother and head of all churches of the city and the world), the Lateran remains the official cathedral of Rome. The facade was designed and built by Alessandro Galilei in 1734-36 and consists of a two-storied portico surmounted by an attic with 16 colossal statues of Christ with Apostles and saints. The pope gives his benediction from the central loggia on Maundy Thursday (The Thursday of Holy Week). Beneath the portico, the bronze central doors were taken from the Curia (Senate) in the Roman Forum. |