Why were there openings in the walls of cathedrals?
© John Salmon / geograph.org.uk
During their restoration, experts found small openings in the walls of the cathedrals that were built in the Middle Ages. These openings are called hagioscopes and people could use them to see what was happening inside. They were for people who couldn’t enter the cathedral for some reason, for example, those who had leprosy.
These types of openings were found to be differently shaped depending on the cathedral, some were round, rectangular, and even cross-shaped. The openings faced either cemeteries or sparsely-populated districts. In the 16th century, most of these openings were sealed once the leprosy pandemic was eradicated.