What is the floor plan of a Gothic cathedral?
The floor plan of a Gothic cathedral is typically laid out in the shape of a cross, which distinguishes it from early church designs that followed the Roman basilica plan. Transepts intersect the main axis of the church to form the cross. The main entrance traditionally faced west and is known as the West Door.
What is the name for a cathedral floor plan?
In Western ecclesiastical architecture, a cathedral diagram is a floor plan showing the sections of walls and piers, giving an idea of the profiles of their columns and ribbing.
Which are parts of a cathedral floor plan?
The typical cathedral contains a narthex at the entrance, three aisles with the central being the nave, a transept that gives the church its cross shape, an open choir where the nave and transept meet, and an apse at the far end of the nave, containing the altar.
What is the main room of a cathedral called?
nave
nave, central and principal part of a Christian church, extending from the entrance (the narthex) to the transepts (transverse aisle crossing the nave in front of the sanctuary in a cruciform church) or, in the absence of transepts, to the chancel (area around the altar).
What do you call the main room of a cathedral?
What is the roof of a cathedral called?
In architecture, a vault (French voûte, from Italian volta) is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof.
What is the top of a cathedral called?
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape.
Why do cathedrals face east?
In the catholic liturgy, it describes an eastward orientation of celebrating Mass, according to the “cosmic sign of the rising sun which symbolizes the universality of God.” [1,2] It is interesting to note that the earliest churches in Rome had the main entrance facing east and an apse with the altar to the west; the …
What is the room called where the priest gets dressed?
sacristy, also called vestry, in architecture, room in a Christian church in which vestments and sacred objects used in the services are stored and in which the clergy and sometimes the altar boys and the choir members put on their robes.
What is the top of a steeple called?
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples.
What are Gothic arches called?
A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown, whose two curving sides meet at a relatively sharp angle at the top of the arch. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture.
What are Gothic spires?
Gothic spires The Gothic church spire originated in the 12th century as a simple, four-sided pyramidal structure on top of a church tower. The spire could be constructed of masonry, as at Salisbury Cathedral, or of wood covered with lead, as at Notre-Dame de Paris.
What is your review of Macaulay’s book Cathedral?
Macaulay’s “Cathedral” is a marvelous creation in more ways than one. An interesting and well written explanation of the building of a cathedral. The pictures are beautiful and compliment the text. This is a terrific book.
What can we learn from Macaulay’s drawings?
Macaulay’s text is minimal, but his exquisite black and white line drawings say it all: the step-by-step stages in the building’s construction, the craftsmen and the tools they used, and the dedication that kept this project going for 80 years until its completion.
How long did it take to build the Notre Dame Cathedral?
The book goes step-by-step through the over 80 year process by which successive generations of the local citizens built a fictious French cathedral.