church, in architecture, a building designed for Christian worship.
The earliest churches were based on the plan of the pagan Roman basilica, or hall of justice. The plan generally included a nave, or hall, with a flat timber roof, in which the crowd gathered; one or two side aisles flanking the nave and separated from it by a row of regularly spaced columns; a narthex, or entrance vestibule at the west end, which was reserved for penitents and unbaptized believers; and an apse of either semicircular or rectangular design, located at the east end and reserved for the clergy.
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