The nave elevation is articulated at every level - above the arcade, the triforium and the clerestory, by a cornice. These cornices and the blind arcatures and pilaster strips help reduce the feeling of massiveness of a building which has few openings in its surface: the clerestory windows are noticeably small, and only one arcature out of three of the triforium is open. Though by no means universal in Romanesque church architecture, reduced light and great solidity are often considered characteristics which oppose the Romanesque style to the Gothic.

The nave is covered by a barrel vault over transverse arches which rise directly out the pilasters rising from floor to ceiling. Only the capitals at each cornice level interrupt the line which visually flows from ground to vault level.

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