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''Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral Diagram .'' In Romanesque and Gothic Christian Church Architecture , the transept is the area set crosswise to the Nave in a Cruciform (" Cross -shaped") building. The transept separates the nave from the Sanctuary , whether Apse , Choir , Chevet , Presbytery or Chancel . The transepts cross the nave at the "crossing" (''plan, right''), which belongs equally to the main nave axis and to the transept. Upon its four Piers , the crossing may support a Spire , a central Tower (see Gloucester Cathedral ) or a crossing Dome . Since the Altar is usually located at the east end of a church, a transept extends to the north and south. The north and south end walls often hold decorated Window s of Stained Glass , such as Rose Windows , in stone Tracery . Some Basilicas and the church and Cathedral planning that descended from them, were built without transepts, but this is rare. Sometimes the transepts are reduced to matched Chapels . More often the transepts will extend well beyond the sides of the rest of the building, forming the shape of a cross; this is called a "Latin cross" groundplan, and these extensions are known as the arms of the transept. A "Greek cross" groundplan, with all four extensions the same length, produces a central-plan structure with consequences for the Liturgy . When churches retain a single transept, as at Pershore Abbey , there is generally a historical disaster, fire, war or funding, to explain the anomaly. At Beauvais only the chevet and transepts stand; the nave of the cathedral was never completed after a collapse of the daring high Vaulting in 1284 . At St. Vitus Cathedral , Prague , only the choir and part of a southern transept were completed, until a renewed building campaign in the 19th Century . OTHER SENSES OF THE WORD The word "transept" is occasionally extended to mean any subsidiary Corridor crossing a larger main corridor, such as the cross-halls or "transepts" of The Crystal Palace of glass and iron that was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 . In a Metro Station or similar construction, a transept is a space over the Platforms and Tracks of a station with side platforms, containing the Bridge between the platforms. Placing the bridge in a transept rather than an enclosed Tunnel allows passengers to see the platforms, creating a less cramped feeling and making orientation easier. SEE ALSO |
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