Counter Reformation and architecture

During the middle ages the choir, the area restricted to the clergy during liturgical celebrations, was usually located in front of the main altar and isolated by various kinds of barrier. This tradition began to decline from the 15th century and, after the Council of Trent, was almost entire lost. The process of change in the 15th-century choir of Santa Giustina in Padua is examined in this context. It was the cause of heated debate among some dignitaries of the monastery. Accusing the abbot of ignoring the regulations and pursuing solely aesthetic ends, they managed to put off the project for many years. This confirms not only the groundlessness of the theory that such changes were imposed by the Council of Trent, but also that they were based on exclusively liturgical and pastoral reasoning.