Chevet

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) The extreme end of the chancel or choir; properly the round or polygonal part.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(capitium) is the place corresponding to the position of our Lord's head upon the cross, on the ground-plan of a church, in which the altar represents his head, and the radiating chapels the glory about it. Like the apse, it took its origin from. the junction of the circular mortuary chapel with the choir, by the removal of the intermediate walls, in a basilica. The tomb-house has been preserved at Canterbury, Sens, Drontheimj Batalha, Burgos, and Murcia. The chevet appears at Westminster, Pershore, and Tewkesbury. In France its screen of tall pillars is very striking.