The Lateran Palace (Italian: Palazzo Laterano), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (Italian: Palazzo Apostolico Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence.
Adjacent to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the cathedral church of Rome, the Lateran Palace is now occupied by the Museo Storico Vaticano which illustrates the history of the Papal States. The Lateran Palaces also houses the offices of the Vicariate of Rome, as well as the residential apartments of the Cardinal Vicar, the Pope's delegate for the daily administration of the Diocese of Rome. Until 1970, the palace was also home to the important collections of the Lateran Museum, now dispersed among other parts of the Vatican Museums.
From the fourth century, the Palace of the Lateran on Piazza San Giovanni in southeast Rome was the principal residence of the Popes, and continued so for about a thousand years.
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