Sunday, June 21, 2020 –
We are going to build a little more onto our cruciform church and take a slightly more in-depth look at layout terms. Today we will cover: vestibule, narthex, side aisles, and center aisle.
You might notice these terms are not in alphabetical order. That is because I decided to take them West to East.
Vestibule: this is not to be confused with “atrium,” which will be discussed in the next basic primer on Church architecture. A vestibule is the entrance of a Church. Specifically, it is a little room—sort of like a lobby—between the door and the nave. You **can** have vestibules on the transepts (arms) of the Church, but only a narthex on the West side.
Narthex: a lot of times (most always) “narthex” is interchangeable with “vestibule.” This is because a narthex is specifically the western entrance of a Church, and by “western” we mean in the olden sense when Churches faced liturgical AND directional East. So, a narthex is a vestibule (small room) on the West side of the Church.
Side Aisles: in ye olden Churches, there were typically no pews in the nave (place where the congregation is), but there were columns that held up the building’s roof. This formed a little pathway of sorts along the North (Gospel) and South (Epistle) edges of the nave. We came to call these side aisle, and that term makes a lot more sense now that we have pews.
In some Churches, there is another row of pews in each of the side aisles. This sometimes means that there is a second (or even third) side aisle on the outside of those pews. Basically, any aisle not in the center of the nave is called a side aisle.
Larger Churches have columns, which make the side aisle abundantly clear, but do know that if your Church is build like mine sans columns, the smaller aisles on the outside of the pews (i.e. along the North and South walls) are indeed side aisles.
Center Aisle: old churches used to not have pews. Yeah, you heard me! People found a nice spot to stand or kneel—maybe they leaned up against a wall, who knows!?—and Mass went on regardless of whether or not you were comfy. It was a golden age when nobody fought for “their pew” or making sure they had an end seat or the first row or whatever you’re into when it comes to selecting your pew.
Now that we do have pews, the typical arrangement is to have two parallel (side-by-side) sets in the nave, which means there is now a center aisle. Sometimes in really, really large Cathedrals you will see additional rows of pews in the side aisles.
Churches in the round get a little more confusing when it comes to aisles. Basically, if you see a slightly larger aisle that is roughly in the middle of the semi-circle of pews and it happens to lead directly to the middle, frontish part of the altar, this is **probably** your main aisle. Basically, look for whichever aisle the Priest processes (comes in) to or recesses (goes out) from; that’s your main aisle, unless something fishy is going on, then all bets are off. Sorry. Since there are any number of pew pie pieces in a round church, you can safely call any aisle that is not the main aisle a side aisle.
Talking about aisle (center or side) can get extra confusing if your Church (like mine!) has pews in the transepts. In this case, each transept has a center aisle and then side aisles. Functionally speaking, it is just like a mini-nave.
Tomorrow I am not doing a post on Church architecture. We will resume our discussion on Monday.
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us!
