Identifier: gri_33125008050011 (find matches)
Title: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance
Year: 1870 (1870s)
Authors: Jacob, P. L., 1806-1884
Subjects: Middle Ages Civilization, Medieval Civilization, Renaissance Costume Military art and science Christian life
Publisher: London : Bickers & Son
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
size, whichcontinued to increase in proportion as Christianity waxed in magnitude andinfluence. The basilicas were divided into three principal parts : the vestibule,or portico (in Greek, pronaon), the central area (in Greek, naos—in Latin,navis, whence the term nave), and the apse or choir (in Greek, ieratrion),reserved for the officiating priests. The portico was supported by two, five,or seven columns, and projected from the front wall. An iron rod furnishedwith rings ran across the columns, and from it were suspended curtains of 2l6 LITURGY AND CEREMONIES. cloth or hanging tapestries which could be drawn or closed at will. Beneaththis portico the penitents, termed strati (prostrated), were accustomed tokneel, and from that position they could hear the psalmody and the sermonwithout actually witnessing the ceremony. The larger basilicas hadfrequently three porticos instead of one (Fig. 179), the central one facingthe west, and the two side ones the north and south. A large vessel
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 179.—Church of St. Antony, Padua, completed in 1307; the seven cupolas were added in theFifteenth Century. The bronzo equestrian statue which stands in front of the church wasexecuted in 1453 hy Donatello, and represents the famous captain, Gattemalata. (mattuvium) full of water was placed in the centre of the portico, in whicheach member of the congregation before entering the church purified hisface and hands. The clergy alone entered by the middle entrance (aula);the worshippers entered by the two side portals, the men by that to theright and the women by that to the left; this division of the sexes wasmaintained within the building also. The internal main area was sub-divided into three or five naves. The central nave was always left open and lig. 180.—Foot of a large Choir Candelabrum in gilt bronze, with seven branches, nineteen feet high, andknown as the Tree of the Virgin, because one of its ornaments represents the Infant Jesus adoredby the Magi, in the arms of the V

Note About Images