Construction began in 141 AD under Antoninus Pius, who dedicated the temple to his deified wife Faustina the Elder. After Antoninus was deified in 161, Marcus Aurelius rededicated it to both. The temple stands on the Via Sacra, opposite the Regia, on a high podium of grey peperino tufa blocks that was originally faced with white marble.
Eight monolithic Corinthian columns of the pronaos, of Karystian marble linked to cipollino, stand about 56 feet (17 m) tall. The article gives no overall dimensions and names no architect.
The temple became the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, which preserved the cella and portico. The conversion is possibly as early as the 7th century but is attested only from the 11th. Orazio Torriani remodeled the church in 1602 with a single nave and three side chapels. The Forum-side stair cannot be used, because a gap of about 20 feet (6 m) separates its bottom step from the door.
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