Basic Elements of Church Interior Design
When you say the word church you are obviously referring to a Christian church and in the world of the Christian church there are some basic elements of church interior design that are almost always present, and in some cases required, regardless of which church you go to.
Of course the elements of church interior design are religious in nature although some of them have changed in stature over the years. In Medieval times a church would sometimes get ransacked just for its stained glass windows as these windows were seen as valuable treasure at the time. Of course today stained glass windows are still an important part of church interior design but they are hardly considered treasure anymore even though stained glass windows can get very expensive.
One of the staples of church interior design is something referred to as the Stations of the Cross. If you go to a Christian church you will notice along the walls many pictures that seem to be telling a story and inevitably you will notice that one of the pictures is Jesus carrying his cross and then another of the pictures is Jesus on the cross. These pictures are done in a particular order and must display, in one way or another, each of the Stations of the Cross as outlined by the Church.
There are 14 Stations of the Cross and their image is based on simple titles as supplied by the Church. For example, stage one is titled "Jesus is condemned to death" and that image will somehow show the Romans condemning Jesus to death. These Stations of the Cross are either in the form of the stained glass windows that line the church or, more often than not, elaborate plaques that hang on the wall. All of this is a staple of church interior design.
The Bread and the Wine
Another staple of church interior design is an altar and this is usually made out of marble. Other churches have their altars made out of wood but the majority of Christian church altars are marble. You cannot have a church without an altar so it can be said that this is one of the critical pieces of church interior design. Another critical piece of church interior design that no church can be without is the tabernacle. The tabernacle holds the bread and wine for communion. Some tabernacles are very elaborate while others are simple boxes; regardless of the design the tabernacle will usually sit behind, or next to, the altar.
The other main and important piece of church interior design is the seats themselves commonly referred to as pews. A pew is a long bench that will have a padded place to kneel at the foot of it. Churches do not normally have individual seating as the pew has been standard seating in churches for centuries.
