Churches wore often oriented, that is to say. were placed so that the apse faced thy cast ( orient, lux) while the facade faced west. This was a part of Christian symbolism which bears a curious analogy to Old Testament ((arden of Eden) and ancient Oriental ideas. especially sun worship. Over the door of the church was often an inscription sue]] as "I am the Door." et•. The world was left mashie. The wheel of fortune so often represented on the facade figured the vicis situdes of carnal life. Inside was the spiritual life. The church was conseerated to the people of God, "Plebs Der: its walls were covered with paintings or mosaics expressing all the themes of Christian history and belief necessary for the Christian people to know—the book of the un learned. In the Orient, especially, but often also in the West, there was a strict order in the ar rangement of sacred themes throughout the church, so that the people should he led grad /tally from the more eleimmtary figurative sub jects near the doors to the most fundamental and sacred ones in the sanctuary or apse. generally filled with the figure of the triumphant Christ and Iris at tenda ut apostles and saints.
Speculation as to the origin of the form of the church is more or less idle. The connection with the already existing halls of the public and pri vate basilicas is self-evident. The building was oblong, with a sentieireular east end, on either side of which was a small room used to keep the treasures of the church and as a vestia•y for the clergy. These sacristies were afterwards thrown into the church as chic-apses. In some large Bally churehes the form of a T was given to the plan by the addition of a cross-arm be tween apse and nave. t See BASILICA ) . The nave itself was flanked by one aisle I m each side: sometimes by two aisles; also by lines of side-chapels. though this was not done until the later :Middle Ages. The facade (q.v.), usually at the west end, sometimes took the outline of the nave and aisles, sometime,: was an inde pendent structure. Near it or connected with it was a bell-tower (q.v.), while as the liddle Ages progressed, towers were multiplied, espe cially in northern and central Europe, and be came an integral part of the architoethral com position. It was in the Carolingian period. under monastic influence, that. the plan of churches was changed into the form of the cross (see CHRISTIAN ART; GOTHIC ART ; RO(IANESQUE ART) , the; bringing in the transept (q.v.), and still later that the choir was so enlarged as almost and sometimes quite to rival the nave in size, as was the case in many Gothic cathedrals, Other forms. however, were sometimes in use: Concentric churehes, either round or polygonal, suelu as San Stefano Rotondo in Rome, Nime OttinarsIndm. 11e. : Greek (Tosses. as Alareo; in Venice, single-nave churches, some times domed, as in Byzantine a•chiteeture, some times vaulted or rooted, as in Dominican and Franciscan churches, whose ball form was in vented for the sake of the sermon.
AecEssonv STurcTunEs. There were many ac cessory structures connected with churches. The most usual were the JOthoe, or the porish house; the cloister for the canons or monks attached to its serviee: the chapels dedi cated to special saints and martyrs: the hap ( istery—in the case of churches where baptism was allowed: the atria or cloistered courts in front or beside the main building. The Cathedral of lumens shows it typical gruping. In front,
the episcopal residence: then the Imptistery, oll the axis of the church; then the rectangular atrium surrounded IT colonnades: then the church itself. This was the type the Dourth to the Ninth Century. The cathedrals of the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries show the per fecting of quite a different plan: all the struc tures in front of the church have disappeared and it fronts directly on the city street or square. This scheme has ever since been retained, except in monastic churches, Which were within the conventual walls.
Church furniture and decoration were always a very important feature. A church was not regarded as completed in the .Middle Ages unless it was covered with instructive sculptures or paintings. through which it carried out a large part of its mission. These decorations were not left to the artist, but planned by the ecclesias tical authorities. (See IcoNounAmtv.) frescoes, tapestries, painted glass windows.l•ith in: sculptured reliefs and sta na ry.
Were Used in prOinsion even in the times when art had fallen lowest. The throne for the bishop in the apse and the priest's seats surrounding it; the altar, its canopy and confession: the choir screen and seats; the amboncs and pulpits and paschal candlestiek; the altar pieces and fronts; the main and side altars; the choir books: the altar-serl ice; the monuments to great ecclesiastic and civil personages against the side walls, in special chapels, and in floor-slabs; the hanging lamps and tapestries—all gave ample opportunity for rich display of color and form. The bishop and chapters were among the greatest art patrons. Saint Bernard's anger was excited by the very profusion of this ecclesiastical art and he carried on a erusadc for simplicity, which was successful only within his own order of Cistercian monks. A second reaction against church magnificence came with Protestat tism, which destroyed so many churches, and in build ing its own usually showed the most rigid sim plicity, to the great loss of art.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Up to the time of the RenaisBibliography. Up to the time of the Renais- sance the history of architecture is the develop ment of the church building. Only general works can here be cited. The most complete work •ov ering the whole ground is Debi° and Von Bezold, Die ehristliche Raukunst des Abcmllundes (Stutt gart, 1884), plates and text still in course of publicat ion. See also Ilitbsch. Itchrist/iche ellen (Karlsruhe, 1SU-63) Liibke, 1 orschule (;cerhichtc dor Kirchenbaukuust des Mil le-loiters (Berlin, 1858) ; Norton, C. E., Church building in the Middle Ages (New York. 1880) : (;east, Entwi•k•lung the Kirchenhaukunst des 11 it Halters (Berlin, 1858) Clausse. Monu ments du Christianisnec ) For erma ay. consult ;schii Mr, 1/ aster gilt igc Kirrbeobauten des MittrIalters itt Deutschland (Berlin, ISS(1) ; for France, Viollet le-Due. "De la construetion des (alitices religieux in France," in Jungles areht'ologiques, (Paris, For the lesser church buildings, see Bambd 1,7glis•R do bourns of rillages (Paris, ISti7) Brambm, Parish Churches (London. 1848). For Protestant church archileeture. con sult Schultze, Das et-anodise-he Icir•bcagednende Leipzig. IS'85) ; and especially Der Kir-viten/eta des Protestantismus (Berlin, 189:1). published by the Vereinigung Berliner Architekten. and treat ing the entire period from the till the present date.