Dictionary

Abacus

A four-sided slab being the uppermost part of a column capital.

In the Doric Order, an abacus being a square slab together with an echinus forms the capital, in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, it includes thin moulded slab with decorative elements; in Ionic and Composite orders, the sides of an abacus are concave and decorated with a rosette. In the arcade system in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, it often changed into an impost.

Acanthus

A plant with large and deeply cut leaves and flower spikes, native to Mediterranean region;

It is the original model of ornaments known as acanthus leaf, flower or twig widespread in ornamentation from Antiquity to Modern Times. The types of this ornament made in Antiquity had different forms in different periods: Acanthus mollis with large luxuriant leaves occurring from about 1980-90; Acanthus spinosus - typical around 1700; Flame acanthus from around 1725, the most characteristic ornament of Rococo (with rocaille). The elements which are the most similar to the plant include an acanthus leaf used singly (e.g. in corbels), as calyx (e.g. Corinthian and Composite capitals) and in continuous friezes.

Architrave

An epistyle, a beam that rests on columns (pillars, pilasters), the lowest and the most important element of the entablature; the original function of the architrave was to support the floor beams hidden behind the frieze. Architraves can be found in all orders of architecture; in the Doric order - it is plain, ending with a fascia on which guttae are mounted below the triglyphs of frieze in equal intervals; in the Ionic order - it is made of three fasciae which are gradually projecting upwards; in the Corinthian order - it is additionally decorated with the moulding of recessing fasciae.

Archivolt

1) A moulded or ornamented front of arcade, decorative element, following the structural curve on the underside of an arch.

2) A structural arch crowning the Roman and Gothic portals; a series of recessed arches, the most often decorated with carvings.

Arcade

An architectural element consisting of an arch or series of arches based on two supports (piers, columns). Depending on their function, they can be structural or decorative.

Astragal

1) in architecture, a moulding decorated with beaded design, found between the shaft and capital of a column, sometimes as an element of complex base moulding.

2) a continuous ornament in a form of half-convex moulding including fillets separated with single or double round planes or beads.

Atlant

An atlas, telamon, a support sculpted in the form of a standing man (less frequently sitting or kneeling) used instead of a column, pier or pilaster, with the head, shoulders or forearms of a sculpture supporting entablature, ceiling, balcony or another architectural element. Used in Antiquity and then adopted (similarly as caryatid and herma) in the Italian and Netherlandish Renaissance and Mannerist architecture; a favourite decorative motif of the Baroque and Classicist architecture; also found in the range of historicising styles of the 19th century.

Attic

A low wall, balustrade or a row of pinnacles crowning the facade and usually situated above the crowning cornice; some types of attic have structural importance as walls of low loft; attics have mainly decorative function and simultaneously partially or completely cover the roof; it crowns four sides of elevations or their parts.

Base

The base of column, pier, pilaster is an element on which the shaft rests. Its main elements include square platform (plinth) and convex mouldings (toruses), separated with concave moulding (trochilus). It can be found in Antiquity in all orders of architecture excluding the Doric order.

Entablature

In Classical orders and their interpretation in the modern architecture, the uppermost horizontal part supported by columns (semi-columns, pilasters, etc.) divided into three elements: architrave, frieze and cornice; each order of architecture has its characteristic shape and proportions.

Bossage

A decoration of stone wall face made through carving mouldings on external edges of each cut stone or imitation thereof in the plaster. In this way, the surface is divided with horizontal and vertical grooves. Bossage is applied to the whole building elevation, or to selected storeys, base courses, sections of walls, quoins, columns, pilasters, and frames of openings.

Panelling

A covering made of wood or other materials applied to the whole surface of wall or its parts. It may be architecturally separated, decorated with wood carving, intarsia, polychrome, left as natural, painted, varnished or gold-plated wood. Panelling was used in ancient Roman palaces, it could be also found in Gothic; a fundamental element of secular and sacred interiors in Renaissance; indispensable decoration of Classicist interiors.

Base course/Base

1) The lowest part of a building or an architectural element (e.g. column, pier, portal) that is above ground being their structural base or having only visual function. It is usually protruding from the wall, and is often highlighted with different material, texture (e.g. bossage) or separate cornice. In larger buildings, it can be found on bottom storey. Applied from the Roman times; since Renaissance, it has become an important architectural element, especially in construction of palaces;

2) Pedestal

Echinus

The bottom part of Doric and Tuscan capital in the shape of round cushion, joining the column shaft with an abacus; this term is sometimes used to specify the bottom part of Ionic capital. The proportions and mouldings of an echinus changed with the evolution of Doric column.

Ogee

A decorative element or ornamental motif with scroll-like volutes on both ends which are usually of different size resulting in a shape somewhat like an S; often called a double volute; found in Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque in a form of small corbels supporting crowning cornices, porches, balconies, etc.; one of the most often applied motifs in the combs of Renaissance attics. The characteristic form of an ogee can be found in voluted gables.

Frames

A decorative element; most often, a moulded or plain strip separating the surface of walls, ceilings.

Cove moulding

A cove moulding is a concave-profile moulding used at the junction of an interior wall and ceiling or between the walls (in the 18^th and 19t centuries, often decorated with stucco ornaments, mouldings, etc.).

Pier

In architecture, it is an upright support, the most often - free standing, with a function similar to a column (it may also have a base, capital, and root), with many-sided cross section (most often rectangular, sometimes octagonal), made of stone, brick, concrete, etc. A pier is one of the oldest supporting elements which became particularly important upon mastering the technique of vault construction.

Pediment (fronton)

A gable in the Classical architecture or the architecture employing classical forms; the plain area within the pediment decorated with relief sculpture and framed in cornice is called a tympanum. A pediment comes from the Greek architecture as the upper part of facade of a Greek temple; limited with ridges of gable roof and entablature; a tympanum was usually decorated with relief sculpture. Triangular pediments were used in the Roman architecture, and then the architecture of Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism. It crowns facades of sacred and secular buildings.

Frieze

1) The lower part of an entablature in Classical orders between an architrave and a cornice; in the Doric order, it consists of triglyphs and metopes; in other orders, it is plain or decorated with ornamental motifs or figures.

2) A horizontal decorative band used in architecture.

Gierunek

A decorative finish of cove mouldings, trims on wall corners.

Capital

A capital is the top crowning part of a column, pilaster, pier, artistically shaped. It has structural function as an element between the support and supported elements. It is the most thoroughly developed part of a column and it changed depending on a country or age.

Grotesque

An ornament consisting of plants with interlaced figures, animals, fruits, flowers, panoplies, architectural fragments, and fantastic elements. Grotesques originated in the Roman art in the 1^st century, and then - in the period of Renaissance and Classicism - it was - in connection with arabesques - the most characteristic motif decorating paintings and sculptures.

Cornice

An architectural element in a form of horizontal (usually moulded) single or complex strip projecting out over the wall face, with its edges parallel to the wall; made of stone, brick, terracotta, wood, metal, plaster on base made of brick, wood or iron, concrete or reinforced concrete. The practical function of a cornice is to throw rainwater free of the building walls, it also has decorative function. Cornices are the elements of the interior and external elements of a building.

Capital (head)

Caryatid

A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support, its head supports architectural elements (entablature, balcony, etc.). In Antiquity, they were applied mainly in the Ionic order. Its variant is called a canephora.

Cartouche

It is a decorative frame of an escutcheon, inscription plate, low relief, painting, etc. It is often held or winged by putti, angels, animals, birds, etc. One of the most widespread decorative motifs in European art from 15^th to 19^th century. Originally, it was oval or heart-shaped, and then - in the 2^nd half of the 16^th century, its shape became closer to a rectangle with a characteristic decoration of Mannerist ornament and scrollwork. It was made of different materials such as stone, wood, metal, stucco, and in different techniques; widespread in architectural decorations, grave sculptures, epitaphs, church items, furniture, goldsmith’s works, ceramics, glass products, painting, medals, coins, etc.

Coffer (coffering)

Sunken surface in wooden ceiling between the sections of crossing beams or made through fitting transverse small beams or trims between floor beams to divide the inter-beam surface into sunken fields (the so called coffered ceiling); coffers used for decorative purposes are also widespread in brick architecture, that is in ceilings, vaults, domes, undersides of arches of arcades, etc., they are carved in stone or made of stucco and plaster. Their depth is different - from deep coffers between floor beams, through shallow ones framed with trims, to false coffers painted on ceilings or vaults (mainly in the 16^th century). They have different forms: four- or many-sided, spherical, and sometimes different shapes and sizes of coffers are combined within one ceiling or vault, usually in a regular pattern. The decorative properties of coffers were provided through shaping the framing beams or strips, moulded, with ornamented carvings and paintings, gold-plated, and through placing inside them such items as carvings or paintings, rosettes, stars, panoplies, putti’s heads, heads, figures or scenes. Coffers were characteristic of the architecture in Antiquity, early Christian times, and modern times (mainly in Renaissance).

Column

An upright architectural support with round or many-sided cross section which also has decorative function; it consists of three parts: capital, shaft and base, or at least of the two first parts; made of stone, brick or wood, and since the 19^th century - from cast iron. Columns shafts may be plain or decorated with low reliefs; they are the most often decorated with fluting. There are three types of columns connected with Antiquity: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

Corbel

1) An architectural element, a console made of stone or wood, usually in the shape of a volute or ogee, used to support the cornices of balconies, windows and doors.

2) A small column or decorated base on which sculptures, statues, busts, vases and clocks are presented on the background of walls or in niches.

Dome

A rounded vault with vertical axis constructed above the rooms with central plan (round, square, polygonal), and also a separate external part of a structure including such a vault (exterior dome). A dome is supported directly by a crown of wall or a tambour. The interior of a dome is lit by the windows of a lantern structure, the windows in the vault of a dome or tambour, sometimes an opening at the top called an oculus. The dome underside is often decorated with coffers, vault strips, ribs, decorations such as paintings or carvings. Small domes - which are usually onion-shaped, are called cupolas.

Lesene

A low-relief, vertical strip of wall jutting from the wall face; unlike pilaster, it is without a capital and - often - a base; lesenes were used in the architecture of Late Antiquity, and in modern times; usually placed in regular intervals, they had mainly ornamental function of exterior surfaces rather than interior ones.

Meander

An ornamental band constructed from a continuous line shaped into a repeated motif incorporating right angles; this pattern was the basis of numerous variants such as two parallel lines which sometimes meet together or interweave with each other and turn at right angles.

Medallion

In decorative architecture and arts, it is a round or oval frame which contains a low relief or painting; a motif characteristic of decorations in Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, and Classicism.

Metope

A square or rectangular element fitted between triglyphs in a Doric frieze of entablature. In wood construction, terracotta metopes filled in the space between the ends of floor beams jutting from the walls; in stone construction - they were most often decorated with low reliefs.

Module

In architecture, a measurement unit corresponding to the size of a given architectural element which is used to determine the proportions of other architectural parts.

Niche

A recess in the wall, the most often of rectangular or half-round shape, headed with half-dome; it has decorative function, topped with triangular, half-round pediments or sections of cornice, flanked with small columns or pilasters. Sometimes filled with statues. Known from Antiquity.

Frame

A decorative framing device for an opening (especially a window), recess, panel, panneau, plate, epitaph, gravestone, etc. A frame may be made of the same material as its decorative element or from a different one; it usually consists of a plain or moulded band, sometimes with a widening highlighting the upper corners, pilasters, small columns or hermas supporting the crowning cornice; frontispieces, etc., characteristic of the modern architecture. Decorative door frames are called portals, and the frames for fabrics, illumination, reliefs and drawings - a bordure.

Ornament

A motif or set of motifs of ornamental character used in architecture and other fine arts; it may have the form of bands (with continuous or regular pattern), fill specified fields (symmetrically or not), or cover the whole surface of an item. An ornament is often applied as dividing element, an element of frames, or to highlight the tectonics of an item (to accentuate its specific parts).

Wall panel (panelling)

Pilaster

It is a pillar flattened against the wall which has supporting and decorative function separating wall surface; it is also a part of frames of window, door and gate openings, etc. A pilaster consists of a capital, plain or fluted shaft, base and often a plinth; it is usually combined with entablature, less frequently with arches (pilaster arcades).

Plafond

1) a large decorative surface located in the centre of ceiling or underside of vaults.

2) A painting or stucco decoration located in this place.

Panel

A slightly recessed and usually moulded surface in wall, its base course, front surface of pilaster, etc. It may be plain or decorated, usually with low reliefs; it is usually rectangular but there are also more complex shapes; panels are characteristics of the Roman and modern architecture; in Renaissance filled with arabesques and grotesques, in Mannerism, Baroque and Classicism - with motifs characteristic of the styles in those periods.

Portal

A decorated frame of entrance consisting mainly of architectural elements and carvings. On its sides, there are embrasures with diversely shaped mouldings, pillars, columns or pilasters that support door head or arch; more complex portals are topped with sections of entablature, gables, etc. The medieval sacral architecture employed monumental portals which were richly decorated with carvings and decorations; in Baroque, a characteristic feature of portals was a complex crowning connected with a balcony above.

Portico

An external part of a building which is not enclosed by walls at least on one side, with colonnade or a row of pillars of one- or two-storey height, it usually protected the main entrance, often topped with a triangular pediment.

Architectural orders

The rules of construction and composition whose elements are connected with determined proportions calculated based on a unit called a module - their characteristics feature is a unified form. The most characteristic element of each architectural order is a column, especially its capital. The basic architectural orders were developed in Antiquity in the sphere of Classical culture. Towards the end of the 7^th century BC, the Doric and Ionic orders were developed in Greece which are equivalents of styles with the same names.

Putto

A decorative motif depicting a small nude male child, widespread in painting and sculpture of Renaissance, referring to ancient depictions of Eros as a winged child (the so called Cupids; less frequently Erotes); putti often means the depictions of angels widespread in the church art of Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo.

Relief

The composition of carvings giving impression of being raised above the background plane of stone, wood or metal; intended for viewing from the front of it; made by the technique of carving, cutting, casting, etc.

Rocaille

An ornament characteristic of Rococo, with fanciful, asymmetric and irregular form, smooth or ragged lines imitating the shapes of shells; with the passage of time, it was elaborated with a cock comb or a form of frozen white-crested waves. Applied in arts and crafts, and also in architectural sculpture and interior decoration.

Rosette

A motif of stylised flower with opened petals. It is also a centripetal composition of plants and flowers which decorates the central part of a plafond or ceiling; usually made of stucco.

Coffering (coffer)

Stucco

A mixture of gypsum, lime and fine sand or marble dust, that is easy to shape and quickly hardens. It is often coloured, applied on the ground and smoothed or polished after drying. A ready stucco imitates marble.

Overdoor

A decorative panneau placed above door opening, with decorations such as carvings, frescos, or paintings on canvas framed in stucco or wood; overdoors were used in Renaissance palaces; they are characteristics of Baroque, Rococo, and Classicism.

Scrollwork (volute)

Triglyph

A rectangular tablet with three grooves between metopes and on the corners of Doric frieze of entablature.

Tympanum (pediment, portal),

Volute (scrollwork)

An architectural element and ornamental motif featuring spirals or scrolls. In Classical architecture, it can be found in column capitals; in Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque - in topping elements, it also decorates corbels, combs of attics, often in a form of an ogee. A special form of an ogee are voluted gables characteristic of Mannerist and Baroque church facades without towers - they were placed in the corner area between a narrower higher storey and a wider lower storey.

Keystone

It is a top central wedge-shaped element of an arch or some types of vaults whose shape and decorative properties are different from other elements; it may be made of stone, brick, less frequently of wood (in the last case, it has only a decorative function).