Altar

High altar in Chiesa di S. Maria di Zobenigo

For more specific information about altars in Venice, see Altars

An altar, or in Italian altari, is a tablelike construction used in the Christian church in celebrating the Eucharist. Altars can range from being simple tables to intricate stone pieces with carved figures on the front and sides. These figures typically depict biblical figures or stories. The main altar of a church is a focal point of the interior. Larger churches may have additional smaller side altars in addition to the main altar, where masses can be held in a more intimate setting. Altars frequently hold relics connected to saints of the Catholic Church.

Components of an Altar

Altar diagram with labeled components

Table (Mensa)

The mensa refers to the flat piece of the altar upon which the elements used to celebrate the eucharist are placed. These are typically made of stone, but more modern mensa can also be made of wood. The front of the mensa can be decorated with carvings, mosaics, or cloth coverings.

Altarpiece (Pala d'Altare)

The altarpiece refers to the vertical portion of the altar connected to the mensa behind it and typically connected to the wall of the church. There are multiple types of altarpieces and these types are sometimes mixed. The altarpiece usually displays icons of the Catholic church or depicts a scene from biblical or religious history.

The most common kind of altarpiece is a painting (dipiti). These paintings can range from small portraits of saints to massive depictions of scenes from the life of Christ.

The less common kind of altarpiece is a polyptych, which consists of painted panels separated by folds or hinges. A polyptych consists of more than three panels, with altar pieces made of two or three panels called diptychs or triptychs respectively. These panels typically display images of saints or other religious figures. Under the polyptych, there is often a predella or platform with panels depicting the scenes from the life of a saint.

Tabernacle (Tabernacolo)

A tabernacle refers to a compartment in which the eucharist is stored. It takes the form of a metal or opauqe decorative box with an opening panel, so that the body and blood of christ can be kept without obstruction in between celebrations of mass. 

The word tabernacle itself means “dwelling place.”

Balustrade (Balaustra)

The balustrade is a railing, typically made of stone or metal, which act as a barrier to an altar. The balustrade in front of an altar generally includes a space in the middle leaving space for a gate, through which the altar can be accessed.

Side altar in Chiesa del SS. Redentore showing a part of the balustrade and its gate

Side altar in Chiesa di S. Eufemia, where the top of the mensa can be seen

Side altar from Chiesa di S. Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, showing an example of a painted altar piece

High altar in a side chapel in Chiesa di S. Zaccaria

Main Altar

In the ancient basilicas the priest faced the people as he stood at the altar. When the basilicas were adapted for Christian assemblies, slight modifications were made and the altar stood between the clergy and people. Later on the altar was placed in the apse against or at least near the wall, so that the priest when celebrating faced the east and the people were placed behind him.

Form of an Altar

There are two kinds of altars according to the present discipline of the church, the fixed and the portable. A fixed altar is one that is attached to a wall, a floor, or a column whether it be consecrated or not and in the in the liturgical sense it is a permanent structure of stone, consisting of a consecrated table and support, which must be built on a solid foundation. A portable altar is one that may be carried from one place to another and in the liturgical sense it is a consecrated altar-stone, sufficiently large to hold the Sacred Host and the greater part of the base of the chalice. It is inserted in the table of an altar which is not a consecrated fixed altar.

The component parts of a fixed altar in the liturgical sense are the table, the support and the sepulchrum. The table must be a single slab of stone firmly joined by cement to the support, so that the table and support together make one piece. Five Greek crosses are engraved on its surface, one at each of the four corners, about six inches from both edges, but directly above the support, and one in the center.

Side Altars

Owning side altars was very important for guilds. The limited financial resources of guilds, together with the strongly devotional character of their communal life, are the reason why altar-pieces, and not other types of paintings, are what each guild acquired before trying to acquire anything else.

Guilds

The focal point of guild life was not usually the meeting-house, but the church altar, and it was here that the guilds tended to naturally concentrate their energies. Virtually all of them would by the fifteenth century have acquired patronage rights to a side altar and as well as providing funds for a priest to officiate at religious ceremonies, they also normally undertook to provide the altar with liturgical accessories and a fitting decoration. Only the very smallest and poorest of guilds could not have stretched themselves, if they wanted, to commission some sort of painted altar-piece. Whatever the size of the guild, the most pressing property was to secure rights to a church altar and a burial place for its members, and only when that had been achieved could it contemplate acquiring a meeting-house of its own.

Patricians

Patricians sponsored altars and chapels as a way to establish their presence within a community, as well as to secure prayer for their souls after their death.