Bryn Athyn Cathedral: The Building of a Church
E. Bruce Glenn
Glossary
| Arcade | A series of arches and their supporting columns or piers, usually roofed. |
| Bay | A recess or compartment, usually between buttresses or piers in a church wall. |
| Buttress | A projecting structure for support of a wall. |
| Capital | The top of a column, pier, or pilaster, often ornamented. |
| Chancel | The portion of a church to the east of the nave, including choir, sacramental altars, and sanctuary. |
| Clerestory | The upper level of the nave, transepts, and chancel, pierced with windows. |
| Cloister | A covered passageway at the side of an open court, usually walled on the side farthest from the court and colonnaded on the other side. |
| Corbel | A stone, frequently ornamental, projecting from a wall and supporting a roof truss or cornice. |
| Cornice | The molded projecting course of stone crowning a wall. |
| Crossing | The central opening where a church's nave and transepts intersect. |
| Facade | An exterior wall seen as a whole. |
| Gothic | Term given to ecclesiastical architecture of the late Middle Ages, characterized by tall, slim masses, pointed arches, ribbed vaulting and pinnacles. |
| Grille | A decorative openwork screen of wrought metal. |
| Lancet | A tall, narrow window, pointed at the top, and without tracery. |
| Medallion | A panel of stained glass depicting an enclosed scene, usually with a round border and in series. |
| Mosaic | Small pieces of colored glass or ceramic inlaid to form a picture or decorative pattern. |
| Nave | The main, longitudinal body of a church extending from the west entrance to the chancel. |
| Pier | A mass of clustered verticals used to support an arch; a heavy column. |
| Pilaster | An upright, usually rectangular, projecting support for a wall. |
| Pinnacle | A small turret or spire on tower, roof, or buttress. |
| Quatrefoil | A stylized floral motif having four leaves or lobes. |
| Romanesque | Term denoting an architectural style of the 10th-12th centuries characterized by solid masses, round arches, and geometric decoration. |
| Sanctuary | The part of the church, at the head of the chancel, where the altar is placed. |
| Tracery | Ornamental stonework characterized by interlacing lines, frequently placed in the top of arched windows. |
| Transept | Either of two lateral arms intersecting the nave of a cruciform church. |
| Trefoil | A stylized floral motif having three leaves or lobes. |
| Truss | A braced framework of timber for support of a roof. |
| Tympanum | The space, usually decorated, enclosed within the frame of an arched portal. |
| Vault | An arched masonry ceiling, usually of mutually supporting wedge-shaped stones. |