What is inside a basilica?

What is inside a basilica?

Basilicas are typically rectangular buildings with a central nave flanked by two or more longitudinal aisles, with the roof at two levels, being higher in the centre over the nave to admit a clerestory and lower over the side-aisles.

What is the decorated entrance to a church called?

Overview. The chancel is generally the area used by the clergy and choir during worship, while the congregation is in the nave. Direct access may be provided by a priest’s door, usually on the south side of the church.

What is a basilica design?

A typical Basilica-type plan form showing central nave, side aisles and apsed end. The term basilica is derived from the Latin which itself derives from the Greek βασιλικ στο or Royal Stoa. From the 4th century, the idea of adding an apse to one or both ends became fairly common.

What was the layout of a basilica?

Architecturally, a basilica typically had a rectangular base that was split into aisles by columns and covered by a roof. Main features were named when the church adopted the basilical structure. The immense central aisle came to be called the nave.

What are the main characteristics of a basilica?

The main characteristics of a basilica church, established by the 4th century ad, were: a rectangular plan with a longitudinal axis, a wooden roof and an e end, which was either rectangular or contained a semicircular apse. The body of the church usually had a central nave and two flanking aisles.

Why was the basilica built?

Location of St. Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor in Rome, built the old Basilica over the small shrine believed to mark the burial place of Saint Peter.

What is the inside of a church called?

The nave is the main part of the church where the congregation (the people who come to worship) sit. The aisles are the sides of the church which may run along the side of the nave. The transept, if there is one, is an area which crosses the nave near the top of the church.

What makes a basilica a basilica?

basilica, in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, a canonical title of honour given to church buildings that are distinguished either by their antiquity or by their role as international centres of worship because of their association with a major saint, an important historical event, or, in the Orthodox …

What are the main features of Basilica?

What is special about a Basilica?

The title gives the church certain privileges, principally the right to reserve its high altar for the pope, a cardinal, or a patriarch, and special penitential privileges that remove the basilica from local geographical jurisdiction and give it international status. …

What was inside the Basilica of St Paul Outside the walls?

In the 13th century, more artwork decorated the basilica. An impressive art masterpiece inside Rome’s St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica is the “ciborium”, the 13th-century tabernacle by Arnolfo di Cambio. This beautiful tabernacle lies on four porphyry pillars with golden capitals on top.

How does the interior of a church look like?

The interior of the church resembles a three-aisled basilica. Columnar arcades separate the nave from the aisles, with a single apse opening off the nave at the east end. The nave is surrounded on three sides by a two-story structure because both the aisles and the narthex’s have galleries that were accessible from ramps at every corner.

How does a basilica work as a meeting hall?

The term basilica refers to a building that works as a meeting hall. The basilica structure is great for this purpose. Using large columns and arches you can feel the enormity of the structure that can allow thousands of people into the building at once.

How are basilicas different from the Roman Forum?

The basilicas used for the church were different than the ones used in the Roman Forum. Variations were made in these buildings due to their different function compared to classical basilicas. Instead of strictly a place of business, Christian basilicas were used as a place of worship and people had different needs for these buildings.