| aisles | The side passages in a church on either side of the central nave.
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| ambulatory | [AM-bue-la-tor-e] A passageway for walking found in many religious structures, such as outdoors in a cloister or indoors around the apse or the choir of a church.
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| apse | In architecture, a large projection, usually rounded or semicircular, found in a basilica, usually in the east end; in Christian basilicas, the altar stood in this space.
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| atrium | [AY-tree-uhm] In Roman architecture, an open courtyard at the front of a house; in Christian Romanesque churches, an open court, usually colonnaded, in front of the main doors of the structure.
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| attic | The topmost section or crown of an arch.
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| baptistery | A small, often octagonal structure, separated from the main church, where baptisms were performed.
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| basilica | [buh-SILL-ih-kuh] A rectangular structure that included an apse at one or both ends; originally a Roman building used for public purposes, later taken over by the Christians for worship. The floor plan became the basis of nearly all early Christian churches.
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| Byzantine style | [BIZ-uhn-teen] In painting, decoration, and architecture, a style blending Greco-Roman and oriental components into a highly stylized art form that glorified Christianity, notably in domed churches adorned with mosaics and polished marble; associated with the culture of the Eastern Roman Empire from about 500 until 1453.
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| clerestory windows | [KLEER-stor-ee] A row of windows set along the upper part of a wall, especially in a church.
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| cruciform | [KROO-suh-form] Cross-shaped; used to describe the standard floor plan of a church.
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| Greek cross | A cross in which all the arms are of equal length; the shape used as a floor plan in many Greek or Eastern Orthodox churches.
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| Gregorian chant | A style of monophonic church music sung in unison and without instrumental accompaniment and used in the liturgy; named for Pope Gregory I (590-604).
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| illuminated manuscript | A richly decorated book, painted with brilliant colors and gold leaf, usually of sacred writings; popular in the West in the Middle Ages.
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| impressionistic | In art, relating to the representation of a scene using the simplest details to create an illusion of reality by evoking subjective impressions rather than aiming for a totally realistic effect; characterized by images that are insubstantial and barely sketched in.
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| medallion | In Roman architecture, a circular decoration often found on triumphal arches enclosing a scene or portrait; in more general architectural use, a tablet or panel in a wall or window containing a figure or an ornament.
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| monophony | A style of music in which there is only a single line of melody; the Gregorian chants are the most famous examples of monophonic music.
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| nave | The central longitudinal area of a church, extending from the entrance to the apse and flanked by aisles.
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| pendentive | [pen-DEN-tiv] In architecture, a triangular, concave-shaped section of vaulting between the rim of a dome and the pair of arches that support it; used in Byzantine and Islamic architecture.
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| peristyle | [PAIR-uh-stile] A colonnade around an open courtyard or a building.
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| putti | [POOH-tee] Italian, plural of putto; in painting and sculpture, figures of babies, children, or sometimes angels.
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| symbolic realism | In art, a style that is realistic and true to life but uses the portrayed object or person to represent or symbolize something else.
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| transept | In church architecture, the crossing arm that bisects the nave near the apse and gives the characteristic cruciform shape to the floor plan.
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