thumb|250px|Typical Early Christian/Byzantine apse with a hemispherical semi-dome.
A simple apse set into the east end of an English parish church, at
Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.
This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. For the rock band, see Apse (band). Or you may mean the acronym APS. In
architecture, the
apse (
Greek αψις (apsis), then
Latin absis: "arch, vault"; sometimes written
apsis; plural
apses) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical
vault or
semi-dome. In
Romanesque,
Byzantine and
Gothic Christian
abbey,
cathedral and
church architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at the liturgical east end (where the altar is), regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical.
Definition
The epithet "apsidal" may be applied to the
exedra of
classical architecture, a feature of the secular Roman
basilica, which provided the initial prototype for Early Christian churches. The apse in the Roman basilica was often raised (as the sanctuary generally still is) as a hieratic feature, the "tribuna", that set apart the magistrates who deliberated within it. Where an apse is raised by steps, especially if it contains a throne, it can be architecturally referred to as a
tribune, though this term is rarely used in discussing churches.
The triple apse of an Orthodox church.
The apse as a semicircular projection (which may be polygonal on the exterior, or reveal the radiating projections of
chapels) may be roofed with a
semi-dome (also called a half-dome) or with radiating
vaulting. A simple apse may be merely embedded within the wall of the east end. Eastern orthodox churches may have a triple apse, which is usually a mark of
Byzantine influence when it is seen in Western churches.
Smaller subsidiary apses may be found around the choir or at the ends of
transepts. These proliferating abses are common in later
Byzantine architecture and the
Ottoman architecture that developed from it. The term "abse" tends to be reserved for those at the liturgical east end, with these further spaces called "exhedras" or "absidal openings". A
tetraconch is a church on a central plan with four abses, one in each direction. An exedra or apse may be reduced in scale to form a
niche within the thickness of walling; a niche does not reveal its presence by projecting on the exterior.
The interior of the apse, especially the semi-dome, is traditionally a focus of
iconography, bearing the richest concentration of
mosaics, or painting and sculpture, towards which all other decoration may tend.
Related features
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the south apse is known as
diaconicon and the north apse as
prothesis. Various ecclesiastical features of which the apse may form part are drawn together here:
Presbytery
The presbytery (or sanctuary), directly to the east beyond the
choir is the High Altar, where there is one (compare
communion table). This area is reserved for the clergy. The word derives from the
Greek presbuteros meaning "
elder".
Choir or Quire
The choir lies between the altar sanctuary and the
nave.
Chancel
The word "chancel" derives from the French usage of
chancel from a
Late Latin word
cancelli meaning "lattice" (). The grating in question separated the chancel from the
nave, thus "chancel" refers to the part of a church near the main altar used by the priests and open to the choir.
Chevet
In the beginning of the 13th century in France, the apses were built as radiating chapels outside the choir aisle, henceforth known as the
chevet (French, "headpiece"), when the resulting structure was too complicated to be merely an "apse". Famous northern French examples of chevets are in the Gothic cathedrals of
Amiens,
Beauvais and
Reims. Such radiating chapels are found in England in
Norwich and
Canterbury cathedrals, but the fully-developed feature is essentially French, though the Francophile connoisseur
Henry III introduced it into
Westminster Abbey.
Ambulatory
The word "
ambulatory" refers to a curving
aisle in the apse that passes behind the altar and choir, giving access to chapels in the chevet. An "ambulatory" ("walking space") may refer to the arcade passages that enclose a
cloister in a
monastery, or to other types of aisles round the edge of a church building, for example in circular churches.
See also
