Fenestella (architecture)

Fenestella in the choir of the parish church of Civaux

A fenestella (lat.) Describes a window-like opening or a view in the crypt to the grave of a saint or to look at or touch the relic .

A ring crypt with Fenestella can be found, for example, in St. Peter in Rome, in St. Emmeran in Regensburg and in the Einhards Basilica in Seligenstadt.

In the parish church of Civaux there is a fenestella in the choir apse, but it is walled up.

If the reliquary grave can be seen through a vertical shaft, one speaks more of a cataracta (lat.).

literature

• Theologische Realenzyklopädie 18, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-11-011613-8

• Small dictionary of architecture , Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-009360-0