Rome - Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano

The Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, at the end of Via Merulana, is bounded by the Lateran Palace, the side entrance to the church of St John Lateran and the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte. It is dominated by an Egyptian obelisk, the tallest (31m/102ft high, or 47m/154ft including the base) and also the oldest in Rome. It was brought from Thebes to Rome in a specially constructed ship in A.D. 357 and set up in the Circus Maximus. In 1587, during the reign of Sixtus V, it was transferred to its present site, and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius which stood here was moved to the Capitol.