medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Where the outer wall of the gallery is glazed, and there are substantial
> access staircases, the question of liturgical use of the gallery rears its
> head :-)
As John says, this is indeed, a problem. In some galleries, such as that of Laon
Cathedral, there are chapels opening from the gallery, so they clearly had a
liturgical function, but more work would probably have to be done on individual
cathedral buildings (a project that has been surprisingly neglected, in general) to
ascertain exactly how galleries functioned liturgically. In some early Christian
churches, e.g. Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki, the gallery seems to have
accommodated the women in a strictly segregated congregation, but so far as I
know, there is little evidence of such usage later in the Middle Ages.
As for triforia, anyone who has ever tried to struggle through one knows what an
awkward and, often, dirty business that is. It is difficult to imagine that they were
used liturgically, and just how they were used, or why they were there in the first
place, remains, I believe, a mystery. They certainly look nice from the floor of the
church, though.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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