Key Terms for Early Jewish and Christian Art
- ambulatory
- apse
- belfry
- basilica
- catacomb (for more information see catacomb)
- Christianity (for information regarding religions and their iconography, please see The Basics of Religion)
- clerestory
- crossing (for more information see crossing)
- dome
- Judaism (for information regarding religions and their iconography, please see The Basics of Religion)
- Haggadah
- lunette (for more information see lunette)
- martyrium
- mosaic
- narthex
- orans
- spolia
- synagogue
- syncretic
- transept (for more information see transept)
- triforium
The passage around the apse in a basilica church or around the central space in a central-plan building.
A semicircular or polygonal recess in a building. In Christian architecture, an apse is often found at the east end of a basilica church.
bell tower
A Christian church building that has a nave with a semicircular apse, side aisles, a narthex and a clerestory.
An underground cemetery consisting of tunnels on multiple levels. Catacombs were provided with shelf-like niches (loculi) for regular burials and “bedrooms” (cubicula) for more elite burials.
The upper part of a wall that contains windows that let in natural light to a building, especially in the nave, transept, and choir of a church or cathedral.
The area in a cruciform church where the transept intersects the nave.
In architecture a vault, usually circular at the base and rising above the central part of a building. Domes come in a wide variety of forms, including saucer-shaped, onion-shaped, oval, pumpkin-shaped, bulbous, parabolic, and hemispheric. A dome can be elevated by being placed on top of a circular or polygonal drum.
A text that sets forth the order of the Passover seder.
(French: “little moon”). A semicircular architectural space that can be filled with a painting, a mosaic, relief sculpture or a window.
a building or chamber used by the early Christians as a burial place. 2. : a place where the relics of martyrs are preserved.
A medium in which small, roughly cubic pieces of colored material (usually stone or glass) are embedded in mortar to create patterns or images. The small pieces are called tesserae.
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.
"one who is praying or pleading", also orant or orante, as well as lifting up holy hands, is a posture or bodily attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up.
Spolia refers to the reuse of building stone or decorative sculpture on a new monument.
The building where a Jewish congregation meets for worship and religious instruction.
Describing imagery or other creative expression that blends two or more religions or cultures.
In a cruciform church, the part of the building oriented perpendicular to the nave.
A shallow, arched gallery within the thickness of an inner wall, above the nave of a church or cathedral.
