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| A covered walkway, outdoors (as in a church cloister) or indoors; especially the passageway around the apse and the choir of a church. In Buddhist architecture, the passageway leading around the stupa in a chaitya hall. |
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| A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a Roman basilica or at the east end of a church. |
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| The court of a Roman house that is partly open to the sky. Also the open, colonnaded court in front of and attached to a Christian basilica. |
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| A canopy on columns, frequently built over an altar. See also ciborium. |
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| In Christian architecture, the building used for baptism, usually situated next to a church. |
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| A blanket designation for the art of the period 1600 to 1750. |
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| In Roman architecture, a civic building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an apse at the other. |
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| A rule, for example, of proportion. The ancient Greeks considered beauty to be a matter of “correct” proportion and sought a canon of proportion, for the human figure and for buildings. |
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| A building in which the sides are of equal length and in which the main space is symmetrical when bisected laterally and longitudinally. |
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| A canopy, often freestanding and supported by four columns, erected over an altar; also, a covered cup used in the sacraments of the church. See baldacchino. |
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| Separate pages of vellum or parchment bound together at one side; the predecessor of the modern book. The codex superseded the rotulus. In Mesoamerica, a painted and inscribed book on long sheets of bark paper or deerskin coated with fine white plaster and folded into accordion-like pleats. |
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| In late antiquity, an association of Christian families pooling funds to purchase property for burial. In late medieval Europe, an organization founded by laypersons who dedicated themselves to strict religious observances. |
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| The space in a cruciform church formed by the intersection of thenave and the transept. |
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| The area in a church formed by the intersection (crossing) of a nave and a transept of equal width, often used as a standard module of interior proportion. |
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| The tower over the crossing of a church. |
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| A small cubicle or bedroom that opened onto the atrium of a Roman house. Also, a chamber in an Early Christian catacomb that served as a mortuary chapel. |
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| A two-paneled painting or altarpiece; also, an ancient Roman, Early Christian, or Byzantine hinged writing tablet, often of ivory and carved on the external sides. |
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| In Christianity, the partaking of the bread and wine, which believers hold to be either Christ himself or symbolic of him. |
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| A page of a manuscript or book. |
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| An incising tool used by engravers and sculptors. |
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| A luxurious handmade book with painted illustrations and decorations. |
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| Decoration (usually in gold, silver, and bright colors), especially of medieval manuscript pages. |
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| Openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead. |
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| A semicircular area (with the flat side down) in a wall over a door, niche, or window; also, a painting or relief with a semicircular frame. |
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| The three wise men from the East who presented gifts to the infant Jesus. |
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| The Catholic and Orthodox ritual in which believers understand that Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross is repeated when the priest consecrates the bread and wine in the Eucharist. |
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| The savior of the Jews prophesized in the Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. |
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| A porch or vestibule of a church, generally colonnaded or arcaded and preceding the nave. |
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| The central area of an ancient Roman basilica or of a church, demarcated from aisles by piers or columns. |
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| A halo or aureole appearing around the head of a holy figure to signify divinity. |
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| In Early Christian art, a figure with both arms raised in the ancient gesture of prayer. |
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| Lambskin prepared as a surface for painting or writing. |
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| A large bowl to hold the bread used in the Eucharist. |
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| Mosaic made of irregularly shaped stones of various colors. |
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| A painted or sculpted representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ. |
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| A roofed colonnade; also an entrance porch. |
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| In Early Christian art, the depiction of Old Testament persons and events as prophetic forerunners of Christ and New Testament events. |
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| The body parts, clothing, or objects associated with a holy figure, such as the Buddha or Christ or a Christian saint. |
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| The manuscript scroll used by Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans; predecessor of the codex. |
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| The scroll containing the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. |
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| The part of a church with an axis that crosses the nave at a right angle. |
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| In Roman architecture, a freestanding arch commemorating an important event, such as a military victory or the opening of a new road. In Christian architecture, the arch framing the apse at the end of a church nave. |
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| Calfskin prepared as a surface for writing or painting. |
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