A
choir, also sometimes spelled
quire, is the area of a
church or
cathedral that provides seating for the
clergy and
church choir. It is in the western part of the
chancel between the
nave and the sanctuary which houses the
altar and
Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained
choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave (of which there would have been little if any in the Middle Ages). Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the
Protestant Reformation, though the
Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature.