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The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or vestibule, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. [1] Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper.
The church building is divided into three main parts: the narthex , the nave (the temple proper) and the sanctuary (also called the altar or holy place). A major difference of traditional Orthodox churches from Western churches is the absence of any pews in the nave. In some ethnic traditions of Orthodoxy, it was deemed disrespectful to sit ...
The exonarthex (or outer narthex) is the first part of the church that one enters. It is a transverse corridor, 4 m wide and 23 m long, which is partially open on its eastern length into the parallel esonarthex.
The internal layout consists of three main parts: the narthex, nave and altar. The royal doors divide the narthex from the nave and the iconostasis divides the nave from the altar. The narthex or porch is the entrance to the church building and not yet the actual 'church' proper, and is a small open space often with some candles to buy before ...
This was the structure that was converted into a church. The conversion took the form of altering the naos into the nave of a basilica and the opisthodomos into a narthex. This space was entered from the west, where the intercolumnar spaces of the pronaos had been walled off with a low wall forming a single doorway. Two doors were created in ...
There are four entrances to the church: two accessing the cella from the south and west, and another two for the narthex from the west and north. The apse of the church has three small parts which overlap each other to form a single, larger unit. The prothesis and diaconicon of the church are located by the apse. [2] [3]
Most correctly, the term royal doors indicates the large central doors that separate the narthex from the nave. This is the formal entrance to the church proper (i.e. the nave) and was, in former times, the ceremonial entrance of the Emperor, hence the epithet 'royal'. In current use, these doors are used by all although monasteries and some ...
It is sometimes used synonymously with narthex. The structural purpose of the massive westwork is to resolve the horizontal thrust of the east-to-west arcades of the nave. [3] Church towers as a part of a church began with the construction of the first westworks. [4] Charlemagne dreamt of reviving the Roman Empire in the West. [5]