The triforium is a narrow passageway situated in the middle height of the Gothic interior wall. It is considered that during the construction of a building the triforium was used by workmen as a passageway and as a platform to fix the scaffoldings and the centering frames. On the other hand, it is not clear if the triforium was used even after the construction. As the triforium passage is narrow and often dangerous, it is unlikely that the laity walked in and out the triforium ceaselessly. Existing researches assert that the triforium was used only occasionally for maintenances and for hanging the tapestries, but they do not indicate any evidence. In this paper, we investigate how the triforium was used after the construction of a building, by examining the traces in the triforium passage and the paintings depicting the church interior. Even if these traces and paintings can be later ones, they offer some hints to study the usages in the middle ages.
1. Hanging the tapestries
Gervase of Canterbury wrote in his Chronicle (around 1180) that the clerestory passage of the old Canterbury Cathedral had been used for hanging the clothes. The iron hooks under the triforium of the Cathedrals of Reims, Amiens, Beauvais, Troyes and so on could be used for this purpose. In several monuments, the friction of cords had caused deep trenches on the floor and the balustrade of the triforium (Brie-Comte-Robert, Saint-Quentin, Rouen Cathedral, Chalon-sur-Saône Cathedral).
2. Placing the candles
Candles, needles, and traces of them were found on the floor of the triforium (Cathedrals of Rouen, Chalon-sur-Saône, Châlons-en-Champagne and Dijon, Notre-Dame of Dijon). Today, electric lightings are commonly used instead of candles.
3. Accommodating the audience
Some paintings show the triforium filled with audiences. They witness an exorcism (Laon Cathedral, 1566) or a coronation (Reims Cathedral, 1654, 1722, Prague Cathedral, 1836). These paintings suggest that the triforium could accommodate people occasionally.
In some cathedrals the organs are fixed to the triforium and accessed from the passage. Those of Chartres and Strasbourg date back to the middle ages and those of Metz to the 16th century.
The triforium doesn’t seem to be used in daily worship. However, it was useful for hanging the clothes, placing the lighting and sometimes, accommodating the audience. Further study may lead to finding other usages.
