In
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, an apse (plural apses; from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
'arch, vault' from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical
vault
Vault may refer to:
* Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards
Architecture
* Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space
* Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored
* Burial vault (enclosure ...
or
semi-dome
In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building.
Architecture
Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and in mosques and iwans in Isla ...
, also known as an ''
exedra
An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
''. In
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
,
Romanesque, and
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
Christian church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
(including
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
and
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The con ...
)
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at the
liturgical east
Liturgical east and west is a concept in the orientation of churches. It refers to the fact that the end of a church which has the altar, for symbolic religious reasons, is traditionally on the east side of the church (to the right in a diagram) ...
end (where the
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
is), regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical. Smaller apses are found elsewhere, especially in
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...
s.
Definition
An apse is a semicircular recess, often covered with a hemispherical vault. Commonly, the apse of a church,
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
or
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
is the semicircular or polygonal termination to the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
or
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
, or sometimes at the end of an aisle.
Smaller apses are sometimes built in other parts of the church, especially for
reliquaries
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fe ...
or
shrines of saints.
History
The domed apse became a standard part of the church plan in the early Christian era.
Related features
In the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...
tradition, the south apse is known as the
diaconicon
The diaconicon ( el, διακονικόν, translit=diakonikon; Slavonic: ''diakonik'') is, in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, the name given to a chamber on the south side of the central apse of the church, where the vestments, b ...
and the north apse as the
prothesis. Various ecclesiastical features of which the apse may form part are drawn together here.
Chancel
The
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
(or sanctuary),
directly to the east beyond the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
, contains the High Altar, where there is one (compare
communion table). This area is reserved for the clergy, and was therefore formerly called the "presbytery", from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''presbuteros'', "
elder", or in older and Catholic usage "priest".
Chevet-apse chapels
Semi-circular choirs, first developed in the East, which came into use in France in 470. By the onset of the 13th century, they had been augmented with radiating
apse chapel
An apse chapel, apsidal chapel, or chevet is a chapel in traditional Christian church architecture, which radiates tangentially from one of the bays or divisions of the apse. It is reached generally by a semicircular passageway, or ambulatory, ext ...
s outside the choir aisle, the entire structure of apse, choir and radiating chapels coming to be known as the ''chevet'' (French, "headpiece").
"Chevet"
''Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''
Gallery
Giulia1.JPG, Triple apse of Basilica di Santa Giulia, northern Italy
Stouen2.jpg, East end of the abbey church of Saint-Ouen, showing the ''chevet'', Rouen, Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...
, France
Église Notre-Dame de la Dalbade (Interieur) - Voutes.jpg, A chevet apse vault, Toulouse, France
West Dean - St Marys Church - geograph.org.uk - 994828.jpg, Apsed chancel of St Mary's Church, West Dean, Wiltshire, England
Monreale-bjs-3.jpg, The decorated apse of the Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, demographi ...
Manila Cathedral altar.jpg, The apse of Manila Cathedral, Philippines
Jona (SG) - Busskirch St Martin IMG 9213 ShiftN.jpg, The apse of ''St. Martin'' church in Busskirch Busskirch is a village (''Kirchdorf'') within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Geography
The village is located along the northern shore of the ''Obersee'' lakeshore between Jona and Bollingen. ...
, community Jona, Switzerland
See also
* Ambulatory
The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
* Architectural development of the eastern end of cathedrals in England and France
* Byzantine architecture
* Cathedral architecture
The architecture of cathedrals and great churches is characterised by the buildings' large scale and follows one of several branching traditions of form, function and style that derive ultimately from the Early Christian architectural traditi ...
* Church architecture
* Narthex
The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...
* Niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
* Scarsella
References
* Joseph Nechvatal
Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.
Life and work
Joseph Ne ...
, "Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux", Technonoetic Arts 3, no. 3, 2005.
External links
* This has a detailed description of examples in the early church.
{{Authority control
Arches and vaults
Church architecture