The Door of the Temple of Romulus in the Roman Forum closed the pre-existing round monument that the emperor Maxentius in 309 AD transformed into the temple of his son Valerius Romulus, and is contemporary (Photo 1,2). It consists of two doors completely cast in bronze, 4.92 meters high and 3.16 meters wide, and was decorated with bronze studs, now lost. (Photo 3,4)

The uprights of the frame are made of two whole bronze plates (external and internal) joined with dovetail joints; the central panels are single solid plates 5 mm thick.

The door came from the Cura Iulia, the ancient seat of the Roman Senate, built by Octavian in 29 BC, which Pope Honorius transformed into a church in 630 with the name of Sant’ Adriano al Foro; it was transported by Pope Alexander VII Chigi and adapted by Borromini to place it at the entrance to the Basilica of St. John Lateran (Photo 5).

There are various drawings of the door when it was still in the church of Sant’ Adriano al Foro: by Giuiano da Sangallo from the end of the 15th century, by Antonio Labacco from 1528, by Etienne Duperac from 1575, by Aloisio Giovannoli from 1615 (Photos 6,7,8,9,10).

From the Diary of Pope Alexander VII we know that “on May 27, 1656, the doors for the new building were removed” and, the pope continues, “the door that was St. Adrian’s should be given to Father and Virgilio Spada [intermediary between the pope and Borromini] who should have it repaired by Cav. and Borromino with more bronze or at least copper”. The door therefore underwent various adjustments in size and decoration by Borromini compared to the Roman original, and for the reassembly with different sizes, a wooden core was created to which the sheets were attached (Photos 11,12,13).

Another bronze door of ancient Roman origin reused in the Basilica of St. John Lateran is the one, of which little is known, of the oratory of the Chapel called Sancta Sanctorum (Photo 14): Onofrio Panvino in “De praecipuis urbis Romae sanctioribusque basiicis, quas Septem ecclesias vulgo vocant” of 1570, tells us that the Oratory dedicated to St. Lawrence had bronze valves of admirable workmanship, and he tells us this a few years before the renovation carried out between 1586 and 1589 on the Lateran complex by Pope Sixtus V; this renovation did not alter the appearance of the oratory and therefore we can say that the door has remained as it was in ancient times.

It consists of two doors made of solid bronze plates with 3.4 cm thick uprights and 7 mm thick panels; it is 2.42 metres high and 1.15 metres wide at the bottom while it is 1.10 metres wide at the top. The bolts indicate a reuse in the medieval period probably during the works of Innocent III (1198-1216) (Photo 15,16).

Un’ulteriore porta romana tardo antica è quella dell’oratorio di San Giovanni Battista nel Battistero Lateranense, costruito nei primi anni del 300 d.C. da Costantino I (Foto 17). Dopo il saccheggio dei Visigoti di Alarico del 410 e poi dei Vandali di Genserico del 455, papa Ilaro donò all’ oratorio tra il 461 e il 468 molti arredi; questa è l’ unica delle porte rimaste e risale quindi a tali date ed è tuttora inserita nell’incorniciatura marmorea del tempo di papa Ilario; le due ante di bronzo massiccio misurano 255 x 84 centimetri ciascuna e sono spartire in specchiature rettangolari con profili modanati, prive delle decorazioni applicate a freddo presenti in origine sulle cornici come le borchie, di cui restano chiare tracce.

Le due specchiature superiori presentano un partito a squame (in uso a Roma fin dal I secolo) con archetti rilevati, all’ interno dei quali è presente una piccola croce d’ argento ad agemina. Una scritta in agemina dedicatoria al papa Ilario è presente sullo specchio liscio di entrambe le ante. (Foto 18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25)

Se la cornice marmorea d’ ingresso all’ oratorio di San Giovanni Evangelista del Battistero Lateranense del tempo di papa Ilaro, uguale a quella dell’ oratorio di San Giovanni Battista, è rimasta originale, la porta bronzea del 461-468 che ospitava è andata persa. Al suo posto c’ è la medievale porta in bronzo datata 1195 voluta da papa Celestino III e fatta eseguire dal cardinale Cencio Savelli futuro papa Onorio III.
I suoi autori hanno lasciato la loro firma all’ interno degli archi incisi in basso a sinistra dell’ anta sinistra: Pietro e Uberto da Piacenza, artefici anche della porta simile, eseguita nel 1196, posta oggi nel chiostro della Basilica Lateranense in corrispondenza del passaggio alla sacrestia. Sullo specchio superiore dell’ anta sinistra di quest’ ultima porta appare la scritta con la data e il nome del papa Celestino III. (Foto 26,27,28,29,30,31,32)