Transept

TRANSEPT. - I. ARCHAEOLOGY. - By t. is meant that architectural organism placed transversally between the naves that develop in a longitudinal direction and the terminal part of the church. Etymologically the term (from transepta) means beyond the closure that originally divided the naves from the choir.

The origin of the t. is a subject of dispute among scholars, who, moreover, with few exceptions, have limited themselves to framing it within the more complex problem of the pre-Christian basilica. Until some time ago, two entirely discordant theories, each with even substantial differences, dominated the field: the first advocated the derivation of the t. from particular architectural organisms of buildings

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Roman (Dehio, Krauss, Glück, etc.); the other denied any pre-existing model and attributed the merit to Christian artists, but some for symbolic reasons (the Christ, for example, for the cross plan), others for liturgical requirements (Grisar and at first Wulff, Klauser, Schneider, etc.). Recently G. P. Kirsch, together with Giovannoni, advanced a new theory, according to which the t. is an element of exception in the early Christian basilica (in the East and in the West, as well as in North Africa, the presence of the t. is very rare in churches from the 4th to the 7th century); various elements and factors contributed to its genesis, to be sought place by place, not excluding the inevitable influences between region and region; once the origins are established, only a comparative examination of groups of monuments, and bearing in mind the individual contribution of the architect-builder, can allow a general concept to be formulated supported by positive factual data.

The insertion of the t. into the development of the naves created new problems of statics in the members of the crossing and new constructional schemes. Architects in fact sometimes preferred to limit the t. within the limits of the walls of the side aisles, at other times to thrust it outward, thus creating that typical Latin cross which would be a characteristic of Roman churches. A special form of transverse nave is found instead in centrally planned buildings, in those with a Greek cross and in others of various, but less frequent, forms, scattered in the East and in the West.

The t. was divided from the naves in various ways. First of all an essential organism arose from static requirements: the triumphal arch, which had the function of support at the intersection of the central nave with the transverse one. Then in the wide empty space below were placed marble dividing screens or tall columns closed by grilles (pergula), and among the Greeks furnished with curtains and adorned with images (iconostasis). In the transept stood - and still stands today in the great basilicas - the altar, with or without a ciborium or tegurium adorned with hangings, which often guards the relics of martyrs and serves for the celebration of the solemn liturgical functions of the Church.

Pasquale Testini

II. ART

The transept reappears at the end of the 11th century, probably through Eastern influences, in the cathedral of Pisa, from which it was then imitated in other contemporary Tuscan churches. But only with the perfecting of the groin vaults, which organically solve the problem of covering at the crossing with the main nave, does the new arrangement become firmly established in Burgundian and Rhenish churches, subsequently spreading everywhere, so as to mark the transition from the basilical nave to that of the Latin cross. Famous is the transept of the cathedral of Tournai (v.) of the second half of the 12th century.

Characteristic of the second half of the 13th century is the very projecting transept with apsidal chapels, resulting in a typical Egyptian-cross iconography of French derivation, of which examples are not lacking in Italy (S. Croce in Florence, SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, Annunciata dei Catalani in Messina, S. Maria di Fälleri near Civita Castellana) and which continues in the following century (S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice), surviving still in the 15th century (S. Agostino and S. Maria del Popolo in Rome).

The persistence of the Gothic tradition manifests itself in this century also through other complex arrangements that divide the arms of the transept into a series of small apses and projecting and receding bodies (basilica of Loreto, Certosa and cathedral of Pavia), until the unity of Renaissance composition would bring churches back to the simple Latin-cross plan. The arms of the transept then generally become rectangular; in S. Spirito in Florence Brunelleschi continues in the transept the same subdivision into bays of the nave and side aisles, not only to allow uniformity in the system of covering, but also to express the constructive coherence and spatial unity of the entire architectural organism. In the following century Palladio returns to the apsidal transept in order to balance harmoniously, with the transversal dilation of the interior space, the upward thrust of the dome. In subsequent churches, however, the model of the Gesù prevails, where an analogous effect, albeit with less harmony, is obtained by the arms with a rectangular plan contained within the alignment of the chapels.

Mario Zocca