The parts of a church – from apse to porch

A traditional church consists of a nave where the congregation gathers, a chancel in the east with the altar and often a semicircular apse at the far end. Larger churches have transepts that give a cross shape, and in Sweden many medieval churches have a porch at the entrance and a tower in the west. The terms are useful to know when visiting or reading about churches.

Facts

The plan: from west to east

Most older churches are oriented, that is built with the chancel facing east, towards the sunrise and Jerusalem. You enter in the west, often through a tower or a portal, and walk through the nave towards the chancel. Movement through the church is part of its meaning.

The nave is the large space where the congregation sits. In a basilica it is divided into a higher central vessel and lower aisles, separated by piers or columns. If all the vessels are roughly the same height the church is called a hall church, and if it has only one space without aisles it is called an aisleless church. More can be found in the section The church.

The chancel and the apse

The chancel is the holiest part of the church, with the altar. For a long time it was reserved for the clergy and separated from the nave by a screen or a chancel arch. In many Swedish medieval churches a triumphal cross hangs in the arch between nave and chancel.

At the far end of the chancel there is often a semicircular projection, the apse, with a half-dome vault. In large cathedrals the chancel may be surrounded by an ambulatory with a ring of small chapels, so that pilgrims could walk round and see the relics. Beneath the chancel there is sometimes a crypt, like the great Romanesque crypt in Lund Cathedral.

Transept, crossing and towers

Larger churches have a transept, a transverse arm between the nave and the chancel, which gives the church the shape of a cross. The place where nave and transept meet is called the crossing, and above it there often rises a tower or a dome.

Towers may stand in the west, like the two façade towers of many cathedrals, over the crossing, or free-standing beside the church as a bell tower, a campanile, as at Pisa. Many country churches in Sweden have a single west tower, such as Husaby Church with its massive Romanesque tower.

Vaults, piers and windows

The roof can be an open timber roof or a stone vault. Barrel and groin vaults belong mainly to the Romanesque period, rib and star vaults to Gothic. Read more in the section on arches and vaults and in the guide to the difference between Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

In a basilica the upper walls of the central vessel have a row of windows above the roofs of the aisles, the clerestory, which lets in light high up. In Gothic cathedrals there is often a narrow passage, the triforium, between the arcade and the clerestory. On the outside buttresses and flying buttresses take up the thrust of the vaults.

Porch, sacristy and furnishings

The porch is a small vestibule in front of the entrance, usually on the south side of the nave. Its Swedish name, vapenhus or weapon house, is said to come from people leaving their weapons there before entering the church. The sacristy is a room beside the chancel where the priest keeps vestments, vessels and books and changes clothes.

Among the furnishings are the altar and altarpiece in the chancel, the pulpit on one of the walls of the nave, the font, often near the entrance, and the gallery with the organ in the west. Medieval churches such as Vadstena Abbey Church and Visby Cathedral often retain furnishings from several centuries. Many terms are explained in the glossary.

The parts of a church in brief

Exercise

What is the transverse arm that gives a church the shape of a cross called?