Nave: Quick Facts

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Photos

Central nave of Basilica San Miniato al Monte in Florence, featuring marble columns, geometric patterned arches, wooden ceiling, and an ornate altar with religious artwork.

Illustration of a medieval cathedral with a cruciform, or cross-shaped, floor plan, showing labeled sections including nave, aisles, columns, transept, crossing, chancel, main altar, auxiliary altar, and apse.

Bayeux, France: Gothic cathedral

Vatican City: St. Peter's Basilica

Westminster Abbey: choir

The nave of Amiens Cathedral in France, showing soaring vaulted ceilings, tall stone columns, pointed arches, and a patterned floor leading to the altar.

New Abbey: Sweetheart Abbey

Figure 37: Laon cathedral, begun c. 1165. (Right) Nave, afterc. 1165.

Marble steps lead to the ornate main altar in the richly decorated nave of the Basilica Cathedral at Monte Cassino Abbey, Italy, with gold accents and painted vaulted ceilings.

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Topics

Church Ambo Crypt Altarpiece Rood screen Apse Baptistery Pulpit iconostasis Choir Transept

Key People

Facade of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, by Carlo Maderno, 1607.

Carlo Maderno

Italian architect

Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

Architecture: The Built World