Many components of a churches interior design are religious, although some of them have changed slightly over the years most of it has remained very similar. Back in medieval times it was common for a church to be broken into and the stained glass to be stolen.The stained glass windows were seen as very valuable. Stained glass windows are still a very large part of church design, however they aren't really perceived as being that valuable anymore, even though they are.

Something which you will find in almost every church is the stations of the cross. When you first enter a church one of the first things that will catch your eye will be a series of pictures along the wall which are depicting a story. You will see one of the pictures is Jesus carrying a cross, and then one of the others is Jesus on the cross. These pictures tell a story and are in a certain order.

There are 14 stations of the cross, the image is created based on the title which the church created. The title of stage one is "Jesus is condemned to death" the image will therefore show the Romans sentencing Jesus to death. These images can either be created in stained glass and put into windows, or more often put on plaques and hung from the wall. This is a very important part of church design.

The Altar

Another thing that you will find in any church is the altar, this Is normally made from marble, although they can also be made from wood. A church simply cannot exist without an altar, so this is one of the most important parts of the whole church. Another thing that no church could do without is the tabernacle. This tabernacle is where the bread and wine are put for communion. Some of these are just simple, while others are very ornate boxes. This box will normally sit next to or behind the altar. A tabernacle whether elegant or simple is vital for any church.

The other very important part of a church is the seating, the congregation will obviously have to sit or kneel down somewhere. These seats are known as pews. A pew is actually a fairly simple form of seat, it's just a long bench with a padded section for kneeling down. Most churches do not use seats as pews have been traditional for hundreds of years and after all why change something that works perfectly well.

Church interior design can be quite complicated, there are so many reasons behind some of the interior design elements that to understand it completely you would need to have a very long discussion with a vicar.