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Nave
The principal longitudinal space of a church where the congregation gathers.
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The words you need to understand a Painted Church.
Each architectural term has its own canonical explanation and links to churches where the feature helps explain what a visitor is seeing.
3 church examples
Apse
A projecting or visually defined end of a church, often behind the altar or sanctuary.
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Sanctuary
The part of a church around the altar and principal liturgical furnishings.
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Reredos
An ornamental screen, structure or decorated surface rising behind an altar.
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Transept
A transverse arm crossing the nave and helping create a cross-shaped church plan.
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Narthex
An entrance or vestibule area at the front of a church, separated conceptually from the nave.
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Groin Vault
A vault formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, producing diagonal groins.
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Lancet Window
A tall, narrow window ending in a pointed arch, characteristic of Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture.
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Cruciform Plan
A church plan shaped like a cross, usually created by a nave intersecting a transept.
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Gothic Revival
A nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century revival of medieval Gothic forms such as pointed arches, vertical emphasis, buttresses and vaulting.
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Trompe-l'œil
A visual technique that fools the eye by making painted forms appear architectural, three-dimensional or materially real.
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