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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.
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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.
Medieval cathedral arranged on a cruciform plan

Chancel

architecture
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•History

Chancel, portion of a church that contains the choir, often at the eastern end. Before modern changes in church practice, only clergy and choir members were permitted in the chancel. The name derives from the Latin word for “lattice,” describing the screen that during some eras of church history divided the chancel from the nave and crossing.

This lattice is now more commonly called a chancel screen, which during the Middle Ages largely replaced a chancel rail to set the area apart. Modern churches tend to have neither screen nor significant rail, but the area is still called the chancel, and the word today is often interchangeable with choir or sanctuary.