[Illustration: Fig. 181.--Chandelier, called _Chandelier of the Virgin_; the branches are of bronze, and the figure is of carved wood. (Church in Kempen, Rhenish Prussia).--From Weerth’s “Monuments of Christian Art.”] _Crucial_ churches, that is to say, churches in the shape of a cross, were, however, not uncommon, as well as round, pentagonal, hexagonal, and octagonal buildings. But whatever their shape, they differed essentially from the pagan temples, as much in their general internal arrangement as in their size, which continued to increase in proportion as Christianity waxed in magnitude and influence. 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 furnished with rings ran across the columns, and from it were suspended curtains of cloth or hanging tapestries which could be drawn or closed at will. Beneath this portico the penitents, termed _strati_ (prostrated), were accustomed to kneel, and from that position they could hear the psalmody and the sermon without actually witnessing the ceremony. The larger basilicas had frequently three porticos instead of one (Fig. 179), the central one facing the west, and the two side ones the north and south. A large vessel (_malluvium_) full of water was placed in the centre of the portico, in which each member of the congregation before entering the church purified his face and hands. The clergy alone entered by the middle entrance (_aula_); the worshippers entered by the two side portals, the men by that to the right and the women by that to the left; this division of the sexes was maintained within the building also. The internal main area was subdivided into three or five naves. The central nave was always left open and free, but in the others, partitions six feet high completely divided off the catechumens, the penitents, the virgins consecrated to God, the monks, and the mass of the congregation. At the end of the nave was the choir (in Greek _bêma_), in front of which stood the _solea_ (the cellar or wine-press, in allusion to what was called the vineyard of the Lord), surrounded by a chancel, an open-work partition, in the centre of which one or more gates opened into the interior. One or sometimes two stands (called _pulpitum_, pulpit), intended for the public reading of the epistles, the Scriptures, and the holy books, were erected in front of the gates of the choir. In Rome, and probably in Constantinople, Milan, Trèves, and in all the larger imperial cities, there was in front of the choir, between the stalls of the secular clergy and those of the holy virgins and monks, a space (_senatorium_) reserved for the dignitaries and the noble families of the place.