Cathedra
The official chair of a bishop, from which a cathedral takes its name; often treated as an important work of ecclesiastical architecture, carving, and symbolic sculpture.
Architecture
Altar
The principal liturgical table or structure at which the Eucharist is celebrated; historically a major focus for carved stone, relief, ornament, and surrounding sculpture.
Altarpiece
A work or ensemble placed on, above, or behind an altar, frequently combining sculpture, painting, architecture, gilding, and narrative imagery.
Predella
The low horizontal base or lower register of an altarpiece, often filled with small narrative scenes, reliefs, saints, or symbols.
Retable
A decorative structure or image ensemble rising behind an altar, especially in medieval and early modern churches; often carved, painted, gilded, and divided into panels or niches.
Reredos
A decorative architectural screen or structure behind an altar, often carved in stone or wood and enriched with niches, saints, reliefs, tracery, or a tabernacle.
Baldacchino
A monumental canopy over an altar, shrine, or tomb; in Catholic art the term is especially associated with Bernini's bronze canopy over the papal altar of Saint Peter's.
Narthex
The entrance porch or vestibule at the western end of many early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, and later churches, preceding the nave.
Niche
A recess in a wall, often designed to contain and frame a statue, relief, shrine, or other sculptural element.
Jamb
The vertical side member of a doorway, window, fireplace, or other architectural opening; in carved portals, jambs often serve as supports or settings for sculpture.