Editing Cruciform (section)

== Cruciform architectural plan ==
[[Image:Present-day plan of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral.png|thumb|[[Etchmiadzin cathedral]]]]
[[Image:PeterPlanDehio.jpg|thumb|[[Peterborough Cathedral]]]]
{{main|Cathedral diagram|Cathedral architecture of Western Europe}}
[[Christianity|Christian]] churches are commonly described as having a cruciform architecture. In [[Early Christianity|Early Christian]], [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and other [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] forms of [[church architecture]] this is likely to mean a [[tetraconch]] plan, a [[Greek cross]], with arms of equal length or, later, a [[cross-in-square]] plan.

In the Western churches, a cruciform architecture usually, though not exclusively, means a church built with the layout developed in [[Gothic architecture]]. This layout comprises:

*An east end, containing an [[altar]] and often with an elaborate, decorated window, through which light will shine in the early part of the day.
*A west end, which sometimes contains a [[baptismal font]], being a large decorated bowl, in which water can be firstly, blessed (dedicated to the use and purposes of God) and then used for [[baptism]].
*North and south [[transept]]s, being "arms" of the cross and often containing rooms for gathering, small side [[chapels]], or in many cases other necessities such as an organ and toilets.
*The [[Crossing (architecture)|crossing]], which in later designs often was under a tower or dome.

In churches that are not oriented with the altar at the geographical east end, it is usual to refer to the altar end as "liturgical east" and so forth.

Methodist [[tabernacle (Methodist)|tabernacles]] also have a cruciform shape.<ref name="LanierHerman1997">{{cite book|last1=Lanier|first1=Gabrielle M.|last2=Herman|first2=Bernard L.|title=Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwM9TO1bWIMC&pg=PA275|access-date=1 July 2018|date=19 June 1997|publisher=JHU Press|language=en|isbn=9780801853258|page=275}}</ref>