What are the three sections of a medieval cathedral?

Facade: The outside of the church, where the main doors are located. In traditional medieval design, this faced the west and is called the West End. Narthex: The entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave. Nave: The primary area of public observance of the Mass.



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The plan of most medieval Gothic churches is in the form of the Latin cross or “cruciform.” This means the body of the building is made up of a long nave that runs on an East-West axis crossed with the transept, and then with the choir, chancel, or presbytery, all referred to as the aspe, extended beyond that.

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steeple, tall ornamental tower, sometimes a belfry, usually attached to an ecclesiastical or public building. The steeple is usually composed of a series of diminishing stories and is topped by a spire, cupola, or pyramid (qq. v.), although in ordinary usage the term steeple denotes the entire structure.

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A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building 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.

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A cathedral close is the area immediately around a cathedral, sometimes extending for a hundred metres or more from the main cathedral building.

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A triforium is an interior gallery, opening onto the tall central space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it opens onto the nave from above the side aisles; it may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, or it may be located as a separate level below the clerestory.

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