Architectural Features and Details

Terms related to Columns or Piers.

• Capital — Topmost part of a column that provides the connection to the weight that is bearing down upon it.
• Pier — Column or upright support for an arch or vaulted ceiling.
• Entablature — Decorative horizontal structure that rests on top of a set of columns connecting them together.
• Colonnade — Columns built in a row and joined together in order to provide a support for the area under them.
• Clerestory — Uppermost level of a cathedral wall, whose purpose is to let in light or air.
• Cornice — Decorative, horizontal ledge built at the roof line, projecting outward in order to divert rainwater.

Terms related to Ceilings, Domes, Spires or Towers.

• Boss — a projecting stone at the intersection of ribs, frequently elaborately carved. Its function is to provide a net intersection of the ribs and tie them into one unit.
• Vault — Arched shape structure intended to provide support for a raised ceiling.
• Ribbed Vaulting — System of ceiling supports where the arches intersect each other in a regular pattern.
• Crossing Tower — Tower built over the crossing between the Trancepts, Nave, and Choir of a church.
• Belfry — Structure containing a bell, usually within a tower or steeple above a church
• Domed Roof — Self-supporting circular arched roof built without external buttresses.
• Pinnacles — Turrent tapering upward built on top of a buttress or supporting wall for either ornamental or structural purposes.
• Spire — Tapered, pointed structure on the top of a building, or tower.
• Campanile — Bell tower, especially one which is free-standing, detached from a church.
• Lantern tower — Small windowed structure built atop a church roof over the central crossing area, in order to let in light.

Terms related to Doors or Windows.

• Lancet window — Tall, narrow window with a pointed arch, frequently built in groups.
• Rose Window — Circular stain-glass window, with mullions and treacery radiating from the center, commonly seen over main entrances of Cathedrals.
• Stain glass window — Colored glass crafted such that small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together by strips of lead.
• Tracery — Stonework that support the glass in a Gothic window. Also used to create geometric systems on wall panels and doors.
• Trefoil — A carved three-leaved ornament, or a three lobed opening in tracery.
• Quatrefoil — A figure used in window tracery, shaped to form a cross or four equal segments of a circle.
• Mullion — Vertical, decorative stonework that forms a division between panes or panels of a window, door, or screen.
• Oculus — Circular opening in the center of domed ceiling or a windowed wall.
• Portal — Main door area or grand entrance of a church, gate, or fortified building.

• Facade — Visual exterior of the front of a church usually including the entrance doors and surrounding windows.
• Gargoyle — Stone carving of a grotesque creature with its mouth open, used to drain water from the roof, commonly associated with Gothic cathedrals
• Niche — Recessed area in the face of a wall or pier, prepared to support a statue or decrative ornament.
• Triptych — a picture, design or carving on three panels, often an altar piece.

Interior Features - Screens, Rails, Altars, etc.

• Pews — Benches installed in Nave to provide permanent seating to congregation. Not common in churches until 17th century
• Altar Rail — Low Barrier separating congregation from clergy, designed for communicants to kneel at when receiving communion.
• Rood — Cross or crucifix that is hung in front of the altar or in front of the choir of a church.
• Rood screen — Ornate partition between the Nave and the Choir area of a Cathedral.
• Font — Basin of blessed water, usually on a pedestal, often kept near the entrance of a church for the purpose of baptism.
• Lectern — Slanted desk or stand on which a Lectionary is placed, from which scriptures are chanted or read.
• Sedilla — Chairs in the sanctuary, near the altar, where priests or deacons sit during portions of the mass they are not actively celebrating
• Altar Stone — Stone containing relics of a saint inset into a cavity, used as part of a Catholic altar.
• Reliquary — Container for relics, such as bones, pieces of cloth or some object associated with a saint.
• Cathedra — Seat or throne of a bishop, and a symbol of the bishop's authority.
• Choir Stalls — Finely carved wooden seats, running parallel to the choir area, where the clergy sit, stand or kneel during services.