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Glossary
- Aisle
- Part of church alongside nave, choir, or transept set off by a row of columns
- Ambulatory
- Passageway located behind the altar area
- Arch
- A curved structure that supports the weight of material over an open space
- Balustrade
- A handrail, usually supported by small pillars
- Buttress
- A projecting structure built against a wall to support or reinforce it
- Chancel
- Area around the altar, usually at the eastern end and sometimes set off by a railing or screen and steps
- Choir
- The side sections of the chancel that hold pews or stalls for the choir members
- Clerestory
- The upper walls of the nave that rise above the roofs of the flanking aisles
- Fleche
- A slender spire, especially one on a church above the intersection of the nave and transept
- Gallery
- An upper floor at the west end that projects over the main floor
- Guastavino tile
- A rough-surfaced clay tile noted for its sound-absorbing quality; was used especially in vaults in building. Named after Rafael Guastavino II of Spain
- Gothic
- Applied to the architecture that flourished in France, England, Germany, and elsewhere in northern Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries. It is characterized by pointed arches, traceried windows, rib vaults, and elaborately carved decoration.
- Grotesque
- An artistic, decorative style or sculpture characterized by incongruous combinations of animal and human forms
- Narthex
- The entrance at the west end of a church that leads to the nave
- Nave
- The part of the church that extends from the chancel to the principal entrance
- Parapet
- A low wall or protective railing along a roof or balcony
- Reredos
- A screen or partition wall located behind the altar
- Spandrel
- Either of the triangular spaces between the exterior curve of an arch and the rectangular frame or mold enclosing it
- Tracery
- The open work formed by the stonework at the head of a Gothic window
- Transept
- Any large division of a building lying across, or in a direction contrary to, the main axis
- Tympanum
- Recessed semicircular or triangular space over a doorway enclosed by the lintel and the arch
- Vault
- An arched roof, ceiling, or covering of masonry