The Lateran Palace

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The Lateran Palace (Palazzo del Laterano) was commissioned by Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585-90) and built by his favourite architect Domenico Fontana (1543-1607) between 1586 and 1589.

The palace replaced a much more ancient building, which, for centuries, had been the residence of the popes. This was almost destroyed in the fire of 1308 and on the return of the papacy from Avignon in 1377 the Holy See was transferred to the Vatican. 
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On February 11th, 1929, a treaty between the Holy See and the Italian state was signed in the Lateran Palace. The Lateran Treaty, as it came to be called, established the creation of the Stato della Città del Vaticano (Vatican City State), the world's smallest sovereign state. Under the treaty, both the Lateran Palace and the adjacent Basilica of St John Lateran were also given extra-territorial status.  

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Coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V