Church architecture

A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a matter of controversy and there are a wide variety of forms and specialized terms to describe them.

thumb|Typical early Christian Byzantine apse with a hemispherical semi-dome in the [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe]] thumb|Typical floor plan of a cathedral, with the apse shaded In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an exedra. In Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic Christian church (including cathedral and abbey) architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building

thumbnail|The nave of the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris thumb|The nave of the Santa Monica Parish Church (Sarrat)|Santa Monica Parish Church in [[Sarrat, Philippines]]

national coat of arms of the United Kingdom

thumb|Visigoths|Visigothic crypt of Saint Antoninus [[Palencia Cathedral in Spain]] thumb|A crypt in Wola Gułowska in [[Lublin Province, Poland]] A crypt () is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church, above ground within a cemetery’s mausoleum or a free-standing outdoor memorial tomb. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics and sometimes cremation urns.

thumb|330px|Triptych of the The Elevation of the Cross (Rubens)|Raising of the Cross, Rubens, 1610–11, Antwerp Cathedral A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels. The form can also be used for pendant jewelry.

300px|thumb|upright= 1.5|The cloister at Salisbury Cathedral, England

circular window

thumb|Sacristy with a sacristy credens (a cabinet with wide and very shallow drawers in which vestments and hangings are stored). A chasuble and stole are laid out on top of it, ready to be put on. A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.

area of a church or cathedral

thumb|Five-panel Deesis row (center), iconostasis in the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the [[Moscow Kremlin by Theophanes the Greek, 1405|328x328px]]

thumb|upright|Pisa Baptistery, begun 1152, completed 1363 In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French baptisterie; Latin baptisterium; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistery may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral, and provided with an altar as a chapel. In the early Church, the catechumens were instructed and the sacrament of baptism was administered in the baptistery.

thumb|300x300px|Cathedral ground plan. The shaded area is the transept; the darker shading at the centre represents the Crossing (architecture)|crossing. thumb|South transept at Kilcooly Abbey, [[County Tipperary, Ireland]]

thumb|Plan of a Western cathedral, with the narthex in the shaded area at the Liturgical east and west|western end. The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or vestibule, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper.

locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is stored

thumb|The pulpit of the Notre-Dame de Revel in Revel, Haute-Garonne|Revel, [[Haute-Garonne, France]] thumb|upright|Pulpit at Blenduk Church in [[Semarang, Indonesia, with large sounding board and cloth antependium ]] thumb|"Two-decker" pulpit in an abandoned Welsh chapel, with reading desk below thumb|upright|1870 Gothic Revival oak pulpit, [[Church of St Thomas, Thurstonland]] upright|thumb|Ambo, in the modern Catholic sense, in Austria thumb|upright|19th-century wooden pulpit in Canterbury Cathedral A pulpit is an elevated stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is

large basins or other vessels set in or on the ground or fixed on a pedestal and intended for use in the baptismal rite

very thin gold used in art

300px|thumb|right|The refectory of the Convent of Christ (Tomar)|Convent of Christ in [[Tomar, Portugal]]

thumb|right|The placement of the ambulatory within a standard cathedral. The ambulatory ( 'walking place') is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13th century ambulatories had been introduced in England and many English cathedrals were extended to provide an ambulatory.

junction of the four arms of a cross-shaped church

thumb|250px|Before the Burj Khalifa, the [[Taipei 101 had the former tallest spire in the world.]] thumb|360x360px|The Burj Khalifa holds the record of the tallest spire in the world, with the height of thumb|360x360px|The Chrysler Building was the world-first skyscraper with a spire thumb|Spire of Salisbury Cathedral (completed 1320) (, with tower and spire)

partition between the chancel and nave found in medieval church architecture

thumb|The cathedra of the Pope in the [[apse of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome]] thumb|Modern cathedra at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in [[Los Angeles]] thumb|19th-century cathedra in Lichfield Cathedral

type of church building

A lavra or laura (; Cyrillic: ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Lavra monasteries operate within the Orthodox and other Eastern Christian traditions; the name is also used by some Catholic communities. The term in Greek initially meant a narrow lane or an alley in a city. In a later Eastern Orthodox context, the term took on the new meaning of a large and important monastery.

liturgical furniture

[[File:Regular_hexagon_as_intersection_of_two_triangles.png|thumb|A regular hexagram, [[List_of_regular_polytopes_and_compounds#Two_dimensional_compounds|{6}[2{3}]{6}]], can be seen as a compound composed of an upwards (blue here) and downwards (pink) facing equilateral triangle, with their intersection as a regular hexagon (in green).]]

a Northern European style of wooden church typical in early medieval Scandinavia

thumb|upright|Interior elevation of a Gothic cathedral, with clerestory highlighted thumb|The church of St. Nicholas' Church (Stralsund)|St Nicholas, Stralsund in Germany – the clerestory is the level between the two green roofs, reinforced here by [[flying buttresses]]

thumb|A Romanesque architecture|Romanesque triforium gallery, Cathedral of Saint Mary Major, Lisbon thumb|Interior elevation view of a Gothic cathedral, with triforium highlighted

canopy or covering that covers the altar in a church

thumb|300px|The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by Hubert and [[Jan van Eyck, with its wings open. Considered one of the masterpieces of Early Netherlandish painting, a complex polyptych panel winged altarpiece, which lost its elaborate framework in the Reformation.]] An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, or a set of them, the word can also be used of the whole ensemble behind an altar, otherwise

thumb|Confessional at the Toulouse Cathedral thumb|300px|A confessional in Luther Church, Helsinki|Luther Church ([[Helsinki, Finland)]]

Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone bars or ribs of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the glass in a window. The purpose of the device is practical as well as decorative, because the increasingly large windows of Gothic buildings needed maximum support against the wind. The term probably derives from the tracing floors on which the complex patterns of windows were laid out in late Gothic architecture. Tracery can be found on the exterior of building

thumb|upright|Westwork of Corvey Abbey A westwork (), forepart, avant-corps or avancorpo is the monumental, west-facing entrance section ("west front") of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church. The exterior consists of multiple stories between two towers. The interior includes an entrance vestibule, a chapel, and a series of galleries overlooking the nave. A westwork is usually broader than the width of the nave and aisles. It is sometimes used synonymously with narthex. The structural purpose of the massive westwork is to resolve the horizontal thrust of the east-to-west arcades of th

sculpture or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves

architectural works connected to the Armenian people

REDIRECT Triforium#Matroneum

chapel radiating tangentially from one of the bays of the apse of a church

right|thumb|Interlaced triquetra which is a trefoil knot The triquetra ( ; from the Latin adjective triquetrus "three-cornered") is a triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs, or (equivalently) three overlapping vesicae piscis lens shapes. It is used as an ornamental design in architecture, and in medieval manuscript illumination (particularly in the Insular tradition). Its depiction as interlaced is common in Insular ornaments from about the 7th century. In this interpretation, the triquetra represents the topologically simplest possible knot. thumb|Comparison of associated Reuleau

thumb|16th-century double piscina at the Franciscan friary in Kilconnell, Ireland A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Catholics and Lutherans, a sacrarium is "special sink used for the reverent disposal of sacred substances. This sink has a cover, a basin, and a special pipe and drain that empty directly into the earth, rather than into the sewer system" (USCCB, Built of Living Sto

thumb|The triple apse of an Orthodox Church. The altar is in the larger central apse, the prothesis in the apse to the right, and the diaconicon in the one to the left. The diaconicon (; Slavonic: diakonik) is, in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, the name given to a chamber on the south side of the central apse of the church, where the vestments, books, etc., that are used in the Divine Services of the church are kept (the sacred vessels are kept in the prothesis, which is on the north side of the sanctuary). Diaconicon and prothesis are collectively known as pastophoria.

recess used for preparation of the Eucharist in Orthodox churches

thumb|upright|Crocketed spire of the Notre-Dame Church in Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine|Vitré, France

A cross-in-square, crossed-dome, tetrastyle, or quincunx floor plan was the dominant form of church architecture in the middle and late Byzantine Empire. It featured a square centre with an internal structure shaped like a cross, topped by a dome.

thumb|Simple bell gable at the St. James' Church of Entença, town|Entença ([[Spain), near the Pyrenees.]] The bell gable (, , ) is an architectural element crowning the upper end of the wall of church buildings, usually in lieu of a church tower. It consists of a gable end in stone, with small hollow semi-circular arches where the church bells are placed. It is a characteristic example of the simplicity of Romanesque architecture.

thumb|upright=1.2|Misericord from the Florence Charterhouse|Charterhouse of Florence (Tuscany, Italy), depicting a mascaron (a decorative face) thumb|upright=1.2|With the seat lifted (as at left), the misericord provides a ledge to support the user.A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object, sometimes misericordia) is a small wooden structure (a sort of shelf) on the underside of a hinged folding seat in a church which, when the seat (or 'stall') is folded up, is intended to act as a ledge to support a person leaning against it in a partially standing position during lo

thumb|Gavit of Geghard Monastery in Armenia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Dated 1215–1225, it has a [[muqarnas vault at the center.]] In a medieval Armenian monastery, a gavit (; gawit’) or zhamatun (Armenian: ) is a congressional room or mausoleum added to the entrance of a church, and therefore often contiguous to its west side. It served as narthex (entrance to the church), mausoleum and assembly room, somewhat like the narthex or lite of a Byzantine church. As an architectural element, the gavit was distinct from the church, and built afterwards. Its first known instance is at the Horomos

Rayonnant was a very refined style of Gothic Architecture which appeared in France in the 13th century. It was the defining style of the High Gothic period, and is often described as the high point of French Gothic architecture. French architects turned their attention from building cathedrals of greater size and height towards bringing greater light into the cathedral interiors and adding more extensive decoration. The architects made the vertical columns and supports thinner, made extensive use of pinnacles and moldings. They combined the triforium gallery and the clerestory into single spa

type of church building

thumb|The plan of Zvartnots Cathedral, [[Armenia, 7th-century]]

central doors of the iconostasis in an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church

branch of architecture focused on church buildings

barrier or low rails in front of the altar of a church

thumb|A 14th-century lavabo as a niche (architecture)|niche recessed into the side wall of a sanctuary in [[Amblie, Normandy]] A lavabo is a device used to provide water for the washing of hands. It consists normally of a ewer or container of some kind to pour water, and a bowl to catch the water as it falls off the hands. In ecclesiastical usage it refers to all of: the basin in which the priest washes their hands; the ritual that surrounds this action in the Catholic Mass; and the architectural feature or fitting where a basin or place for one is recessed into the side wall of the sanctuary,

very narrow pointed window

Pastophorion (; ) is one of two chambers within an early Christian and Eastern Christian church building used as sacristies—the diaconicon and the prothesis.

church building with a single nave and no side-aisles

thumb|250px|Chanters singing on the kliros at the Church of St. George, Istanbul|Church of St. George, [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]]