An apse is a semicircular recess, often covered with a hemispherical vault. Commonly, the apse of a church,cathedral orbasilica is the semicircular or polygonal termination to thechoir orsanctuary, or sometimes at the end of an aisle.
In theEastern Orthodox Church tradition, the south apse is known as thediaconicon and the north apse as theprothesis. Various ecclesiastical features of which the apse may form part are drawn together here.
Thechancel (or sanctuary),directly to the east beyond thechoir, contains the high altar, where there is one (comparecommunion table). This area is reserved for the clergy, and was therefore formerly called the "presbytery", fromGreekpresbuteros, "elder",[citation needed] or in older and Catholic usage "priest".[3]
Semi-circular choirs, first developed in the East, which came into use in France in 470.[4] By the onset of the 13th century, they had been augmented with radiatingapse chapels outside the choir aisle, the entire structure of apse, choir and radiating chapels coming to be known as thechevet (French, "headpiece").[5]
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