MATRONEO. – The part reserved for women in the earliest Christian churches (generally the right nave or the right transept), separated from the rest of the church by screens or curtains. In architecture, this term is given to the internal gallery that overlooks the side aisles, originally intended precisely for this purpose. According to Rivoira, this structure would be of Syrian origin and derived from civil basilicas with a double tier (the churches of Qanawāt and Tafḥah, 4th–5th centuries).
The matroneum is adopted in Byzantine architecture in basilican churches (S. Demetrio of Thessalonica [5th century], in which the gallery extends above the entrance so that the two sides are joined) and especially in buildings with a central plan: Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, where the ancient enclosure with ornamental frames is still preserved, SS. Sergius and Bacchus, in which the matronea develop around the central ambulatory. Affinco quest'ultima chiesa, anche in questo parche in questo parche.
The matroneum is very common in pre-Roman and Roman times, and is found as far as Scandinavia. It is recorded in the 11th century in Germany: St. Ursula in Cologne; in France: the abbey churches of Cérisy-la-Forêt, Mont-St-Michel, and Jumieges, St. Remigius in Reims, St. Stephen in Nevers; in England: the cathedrals of St. Albans, Winchester, and Ely. Its use continued in Gothic architecture, to which it is suited by the soaring lines of the naves and the reduction of walls to load-bearing structures; it is found indeed already in Notre-Dame in Paris and then in other major French cathedrals, at Reims and Amiens. In Italy, however, it is very rare in the 14th century; it is found in S. Martino in Lucca. An exceptional example from the late 15th century is that of the cathedral of Pavia, where, however, the matroneum is transformed into a gallery with Renaissance proportions and relationships. No longer used in later centuries, the matroneum is sometimes adopted today to increase the space for the faithful, in churches of Romanesque imitation (S. Maria Addolorata in Rome), or in modern reinterpretations (St. Joseph in Hindemburg).
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