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Crossing (architecture)

 

 
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Crossing (architecture)
 
 
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A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture
Church architecture

Church architecture or ecclesiastical architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christianity churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions....
, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform
Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross....
 (cross-shaped) church.

In a typically oriented church (especially of Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 and Gothic
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
 styles), the crossing gives access to the nave
Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
 on the west, the transept
Transept

Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.'For the periodical go to The Transept....
 arms on the north and south, and the choir
Quire (architecture)

Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary ....
 on the east.

The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower
Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
 or dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
.






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Crossing
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture
Church architecture

Church architecture or ecclesiastical architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christianity churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions....
, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform
Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross....
 (cross-shaped) church.

In a typically oriented church (especially of Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 and Gothic
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
 styles), the crossing gives access to the nave
Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
 on the west, the transept
Transept

Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.'For the periodical go to The Transept....
 arms on the north and south, and the choir
Quire (architecture)

Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary ....
 on the east.

The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower
Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
 or dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
. Because the crossing is open on four sides, the weight of the tower or dome rests heavily on the corners; a stable construction thus required great skill on the part of the builders. In centuries past, it was not uncommon for overly ambitious crossing towers to collapse.

A tower may be called a lantern tower if it has openings through which light from outside can shine down to the crossing.

In Early Medieval churches, the crossing square was often used as a module
Module

Module or modular may refer to:...
, or a unit of measurement. The nave and transept would have lengths that were a certain multiple of the length of the crossing square. This was to ensure that the church was properly proportioned.

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