On the archbasilica's front wall between the main portals is a plaque inscribed with the words ""SACROS LATERAN ECCLES OMNIUM VRBIS ET ORBIS ECCLESIARVM MATER ET CAPUT"" ("Most Holy Lateran Church, mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world"); a visible indication of the declaration that the basilica is the "mother church" of all the world. In the twelfth century the canons of the Lateran claimed that the high altar housed the Ark of the Covenant and several holy objects from Jerusalem. The basilica was thus presented as the Temple of the New Covenant.[https://boydellandbrewer.com/the-lateran-church-in-rome-and-the-ark-of-the-covenant-housing-the-holy-relics-of-jerusalem-hb.html]