Nave

pl:Nawa Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.

Plan of Tewkesbury Abbey. The nave is coloured yellow and red. The crossing (red) is visually and liturgically part of the nave. Eliminating the rood screen visually extended the nave to the sanctuary.

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral and church architecture, the nave ( Medieval Latin navis, "ship," probably from the keel shape of its vaulting) is the central and principal part of a church, extending from the entry narthex to the chancel (http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Chancel) and flanked by lower aisles outside the nave area (plan, right). The height of the nave provided space for clerestory windows above the aisle roofs, which gave light to the interior. The architectural antecedents of this construction lay in the secular Roman basilica, a kind of covered stoa adjacent to a forum, where magistrates met and public business was transacted.

In Romanesque constructions, where a gallery was required to allow passage above the aisles, an addition to the elevation of the nave was inserted, called a triforium. In later styles the triforium was eliminated, the aisles lowered and great expanses of stained glass took the place of the clerestory windows.

The nave, ecclesiastically considered, was the area reserved for the non-clergy (the "laity"), while the chancel or choir were reserved for the clergy, and a rood screen separated the sanctuary from the nave (see Cathedral diagram for details). Pews in the nave are a comparatively modern, Protestant innovation.

Some naves

Longest nave: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City
Longest nave in England: St Albans Cathedral (91 meter (300 feet), in thirteen arched bays) has been outdone by Liverpool Cathedral
Longest nave in France: Bourges (91 meter (300 feet), including choir where a crossing would be if there were transepts)
Longest nave in Germany: Cologne cathedral (58 meter (190 feet), including two bays between the towers)
Longest nave in Spain: Seville (60 meter (200 feet), in five bays)
Longest nave in Italy: St Peters Basilica in Rome (91 meter (300 feet) in four bays)

Highest vaulted nave: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, 38 meter (124 feet) (Beauvais is 46 meter (150 feet) high in the choir.)