Reredos

Near-synonym: retable (often synonymous)

Source: wiktionary

A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.

Source: wiktionary

Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have shown through the succeeding coats of paint across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.

Source: wiktionary

There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number of examples in stone.

Source: wiktionary