Online Encyclopedia

AISLE (from Lat. ala, a wing)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 447 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AISLE (from
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Lat.
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ala, a wing)
  , a
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term which in its
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primary sense means the wing of a house, but is generally applied in architecture to the lateral divisions of a church or large
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building . The earliest example is that found in the
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basilica of Trajan, which had double aisles on either side of the central
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area; the same number existed in the
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original church of St Peter's at Rome, in the basilica at Bethlehem, and according to Eusebius in the church of the
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Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem . The aisles are divided from the
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nave or central area by colonnades or arcades, and may flank also the transept or choir, being distinguished as nave-aisles, transept-aisles or choir-aisles . If the choir is semi-circular, and the aisles, carried round, give access to a series of chapels, the whole arrangement is known as the
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chevet . As a
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rule in
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Great Britain there is only one aisle on each side of the nave, the only exceptions being
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Chichester and
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Elgin cathedrals, where there are two . Many
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European cathedrals have two aisles on each side, as those of Paris,
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Bourges,
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Amiens,
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Troyes, St Sernin, Toulouse, Cologne, Milan, Seville, Toledo; and in those of Paris,
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Chartres, Amiens and Bourges, Seville and Toledo, double aisles flank the choir on each side . The
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cathedral at Antwerp has three aisles on each side . In some of the churches in Germany the aisles are of the same height as the nave . These churches are known as Hallenkirchen, the
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principal examples being St Stephen's, Vienna, the Weissekirche at
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Soest, St Martin's,
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Landshut, Munich cathedral, and the Marienkirche at Danzig . (R . P .

End of Article: AISLE (from Lat. ala, a wing)
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