A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Ambulatory: The ambulatory often contained religious relics. Large numbers of people made pilgrimages to visit these pieces in basilicas constructed in Romanesque and Gothic times. Ambulatories were rounded in order for pilgrims to move about more smoothly.

Apse: A 180 degree, semicircular extension space, which traditionally projects from the eastern end of Christian churches, or from that end which contains the altar and faces the nave. The space is usually covered by a 180 degree half-dome and the space provides passage behind the altarpiece. Some Apses may take polygonal form on their exteriors while remaining semicircular inside. This plan was typical of Byzantine churches. Through time, Apses have been added freely to church ground plans of the Western Tradition, appearing on the transepts and/or flanking the primary apse in a form known as tri-apsidal. In the Roman Basilica or judgment hall, the judge or official would sit in the apse.

Arcade: A row of arches. An example can often be seen between the nave and the side-aisle of a Christian church. When the row of arches is supported on piers it is most properly referred to as an arcade on piers. When the arcade is supported by a row of columns, it is important to distinguish it by describing it as an arcade on columns.

Arch: An architectural element used to span the space between two posts. Arch's shapes can vary but true arches are always constructed of wedge-shaped blocks called voussoirs. Arches, though more difficult to construct, can span greater distances between columns or piers and support greater loads than the simple lintel. Basic aches appear as a semicircle supported on two vertical elements.

Archabbey: An abbey which is given the honor of archabbey has an archabbot presiding over it.

Architectural Orders: Formulas for building which when used produce a specific aesthetic result. The Greek architectural orders are from most primitive; the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian order. Each of these orders has an characteristic style, most prominately reflected in the column's capitals in a design. Each order was also designated to a different purpose (i.e. a government building vs. a municipal building.

Architrave: (or Epistyle) The bottom or lower most element of an entablature which rests on a vertical support or lintel such as a column.

B

Baldachin: A canopy of silk or some other material installed over a crypt, an altar, or throne. These are often seen in portable forms for the purpose of processions. (Hartt)

Balustrade: 1. A row of short pillars called balusters, which support a handrail. 2. On some buildings a balustrade appears over the primary entablature.

Baroque: An era and style in art history occurring from 1600-1750, whose art is characterized by high drama, tension, and extravagance. Baroque architecture was characterized by dramatic, undulating (wave like high relief) facades and ornate decoration in Southern Europe. In France Baroque architecture was more reserved and favored the styles of the Renaissance and Classicism. The Baroque era was fueled by the struggle between the Reformation of Martin Luther and John Calvin in northern Europe, and the resulting Counter Reformation in predominately Catholic southern Europe.

Barrel Vault: A tunnel like hall (i.e. vault) created by building a long series of arches.

Basilica: An ancient Roman floor plan for a style of building which was used as a meeting place and a hall of judgment. The plan consisted of a central nave, which terminated into an apse, flanked by two side aisles. This design became very influential early in Christian architecture and the term Basilica now describes any church with a long nave ending in an apse, with two side aisles. (Hartt)

Bearing wall: A typically thick and heavy wall created simply by stacking brick, stone, or some other material. It is known as a bearing wall because the entire wall bears weight, not a column or pier.

Benedict order: The order of Benedict calls for monks to live within a community and monastery and devote themselves to prayer, scripture readings and physical labor. Service to the community, from spiritual to physical, is their mission. This was based upon the rule of St. Benedict, written by St. Benedict in the sixth century to train men for the brotherhood of Benedictine monks.

Bracketing: Projecting, decorative support under eaves or overhangs on a building.

C

Capital: The top design element of a column, engaged column, pier, or pilaster. In structural columns and piers, the capital offers a visual transition between the upper shaft and a lintel (e.g. an entablature), as well as aiding to distribute load. The capital of a column allows it to be placed into three categories or orders described by the Greeks. The Greek orders were the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian (see diagram). Through time, combinations of the three Greek architectural orders, has resulted in what are known as composite orders.

Catacomb: 1. Underground tunnels in early Christians would gather in to worship in secret. 2. Any underground tunnel.

City State: A city which, is an independent sovereign state often extending its authority over outlying regions. (Webster's)

Classicism: To attempt to adhere to the Classic rules of design and construction developed first by the Greeks and later by the Romans.

Clerestory: A row of windows in a horizontal area of a wall. In many Christian churches, a clerestory placed in the wall above the side aisle is used to illuminate the nave.

Coffered: Consisting of multiple recessed panels.

Collaborative: Art projects consist of ideas from two or more persons (one of which usually being an artist) combined into one homogenous design.

Colonnade: A row of Columns. Often used to support a series of lintels or arches (e.g. arcade on a colonnade). A Colonnade, or reference to one, can be seen below the entablature of any classically influenced building.

Column: A circular post used to support a lintel or the entablature of a building. Columns typically consist of at least a base, a shaft, and a capital. The capital allows a column to be placed in one of three architectural orders defined by the Greeks. The Greek Doric column lacked a base.

Composite: A term used to describe columns or their capitals which use elements of more than one of the architectural orders.

Corbled Arch: An arch like door or clear space created by overlapping and cantilevering lintels or the material used to construct a bearing wall.

Corbled Vault: A tunnel like hall created by building a long series of corbled arches.

Corinthian: The last of the three Greek architectural orders to be developed. The architectural order with columns whose capitals are ornately decorated with scrolls and carved acanthus leaves. The other two Greek architectural orders are the Doric and Ionic orders.

Cornice: 1. The uppermost part of a classical entablature. 2. Any horizontal or shelf like ornamental element projecting from the top edge of a wall.

Crenelated Roof Line: A roofline of a fortified building such as a castle, which has notch like construction. The notches are known as battlements. Void areas in the battlements are crenels and the solid areas are merlons.

Cruciform: In the shape or form of a cross.

Cupola: A hemispherical cap or roof for a cylindrical form more simply described as a dome. Unlike a true dome which is derived by rotating the stone arch 360 degrees around its vertical axis, a cupola may use a steel or wood dome shaped, armature covered with a metal such as copper or some other material. (Hartt)

D

Dentils: Small ornamental projections found on the cornices of the Ionic and Corinthian orders. (Hartt)

Dome: The most difficult architectural form to construct, the dome is designed by rotating the arch 360 deg. around its central vertical axis. The result is a semi-spherical cap that rests upon a cylinder or the top of a pendentive.

Doric Order: The first of the three Greek architectural orders to be developed. Characteristics of the Doric order include, heavy-bodied columns without bases and tryglphs and metopes in the entablature.

Dormer: A window set in a small gable projecting from a roof.

E

Eaves: The overhanging lower edge of a roof.

Engaged Column: A nonfunctional half column, which protrudes from and is set into a wall, for the sole purpose of referring to the column in a building's design.

Entablature: The sum of the horizontal elements which rest on lintels or columns of one of the Greek architectural orders. It is consist of three main elements that from bottom to top are the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.

F

Facade: Generally the face or front of a building. Facade can also be used to describe any exterior side of a building (e.g. The east facade or the northern facade).

Finials: 1. The ornamentation found at the top of a tower or spire. 2. Any finishing or crowning addition. (Webster's)

Flying Buttruss: A support system typically seen in Gothic architecture in which tall piers and half arches are used to prevent a tall thin wall from buckling outwards from roof pressure. The structure transfers the outward force of the wall into downward force.

French Second Empire: This style began at the time the second emperor of France (Napoleon III, 1852-70) was in power. The style was influenced by an expansion added to the Louvre. A French Second Empire home has the typical mansard roof and usually is designed with dormer windows. Decorative elements often used to enhance the roofline were framing curbs and iron crestings. Windows and chimneys lavishly decorated were also common marks of a French Second Empire style home. These trends were all very popular through the later nineteenth century.

Frieze: The Middle Section of the Entablature. It is located above the architrave and below the Cornice. Often carved and decorated in the Ionic, Corinthian, and composite orders, the frieze of Doric order was endowed with metopes and tryglphs.

G

Gable: The triangular shape formed by the two slopes of a roof.

Gallery: A space in a church found above the side aisle roof.

Gladiators: A roman fighter or participant in the fights of the Roman circus at the Coliseum.

Gothic: This style is from the medieval period and has been revived many times in different variations, but can be seen most apparently in churches. Gothic style is most distinct for the steep roofs and the entire design of vertical achievement. Another common feature used in Gothic architecture is the Gothic arch. Other elements regularly in Gothic style to enhance verticality were towers, steeples, and pinnacles.

Greek Revival: This style was revived with the American understanding for Greek theories and the Greek War for Independence (1821-29) from Turkish power. Influenced by these events, classical Greek elements were awakened in American architecture. Greek elements were sometimes used in their traditional manner, but were also blended in different fashions to suit the builders. In one case, a house remained classical in rendering the Greek temple with a large pedimented porch held by columns. A different style used no porch and placed the pediment at the gable ends. Often, corners will have the shaft and the capital of a column to give the house a Greek style. A more commonly used Greek character is a central entrance including a door, a transom, sidelights and pilasters. White paint on wood was the most popular material, but stone and brick were used as well.

H

I

Idealized: To attempt in art to improve upon reality. An example of this would be to render an aging person as being more youthful than they acutely are.

Italianate: In 1837, the United States was introduced to the Italianate style based on the Italian villa. Some common features of an Italianate style house are bay windows, balconies, verandas, and corner quoins. Square off-center towers are frequently seen but are often replaced by a cupola. Windows are often rounded and roofs are low pitched.

Ionic Order: The second of the three Greek architectural orders to be developed. Ionic columns are generally more tall and slender than those of the Doric. Ionic columns incorporate a column base, and volutes can be seen in their capitals.

J

K

Keystone: The central voussoir in an arch. Its action holds the rest of the voussoirs in place.

L

M

Mansard: A roof with two slopes on all sides, the lower slope being nearly vertical and the upper slope nearly horizontal.

Metope: A decorated panel found between the trigyphs on the Frieze of a Doric entablature.

Mimesis: To attempt in art to render in such a way as to mimic or recreate reality as accurately as possible.

Modernism: was the major movement in art from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. Many art movements, from Impressionism to Minimalism, fall under the umbrella of this category. Essentially modern art dealt with the "purity" of depiction. The modern artist struggled further and deeper to find the purest and most complete form of self-expression. The viewer‘s interpretation or reaction was not considered part of the process of art making or as a significant part of the experience of art, as it will be in postmodernism.

Mural: Large painting created either directly on a solid surface or separately and then attached.

Mosaic: Ssmall stone, glass, or ceramic pieces assembled together and fixed to a surface.

Muse: One of the nine daughters of Zeus who preside over the arts and inspire humankind in Greek mythology. (Webster's)

N

Narthex: An entrance space which serves as a waiting room or lobby. It is the first space encountered after entering the facade, and it allows entrance to the nave.

Nave: From the Latin navis, meaning ship. The nave is the large, long hall, which runs through the central length of the Roman basilica plan and Christian churches, which were influenced by it. The nave extends from the entrance or Narthex, to the apse. It is flanked by side aisles.

Neo-Classical: A style in the eighteenth century through the early nineteenth century that revived architecture, philosophies, and mythologies of Ancient Rome and Greece.

O

Ornate Dormers: A projecting window built out from the slope of a roof. (Webster's)

P

Palladian: In or of the style of Andrea Palladio. (Webster's)

Parapet: A low solid wall that acts as protection against falling.

Pediment: The low-pitched triangular form created by two sloped roofs of a building, or over porticos, doorways, or windows. Pediments are often framed by a raking cornice.

Pendentive: A transitional form used to move from a square base ground plan to a round area upon which a cylinder, dome, or both can be rested. It is designed by removing a circular section from a groin vault.

Pier: A vertical architectural element.

Pilasters: A nonfunctional half-square column reference which protrudes from and is set into a wall for the purpose of referring to the column or a colonnade in a building's design.

Plate Tracery: Alternating white and brown bricks found around the rounded arch windows.

Platonic Idealism: The idea based an Plato's teachings that through calm rational logic and reason, man could overcome and control his environment and impose order upon the world.

Pointed Arch: A pointed arch characteristic of Gothic art.

Portico: A walkway or porch with a roof supported by a row of columns.

Post and Lintel: A very basic and primitive construction technique in which two vertical elements (posts) support a horizontal element (a lintel). The ancient monument of Stone Henge is a graphic example of posts supporting lintels.

Postmodernism: is still a much debated term within the history of art. When it started, what it means, and even whether or not it exists at all are all questions still asked by many artists and academics alike. In general terms any work of art made after the Modernist era should be considered postmodern. A reasonable assertion would be that the term was first applied to a trend in the architecture of the late sixties. This new form of creation concerned itself with combining styles of past movements and allowed for the viewer to assert her own interpretation as an important part of the work.

Projecting turrets: A small round room which projects from the edges or corners of fortified buildings such as castles, and could be used for observation points and battle positions.

Public Artworks: Any artwork belonging to the public (either paid for by, made by, or donated to the public). This category of art dates back to our earliest examples of art. Things ranging from cave paintings to the Statue of Liberty could be included in this category.

Q

Queen Anne:- Popular in the late nineteenth century, Queen Anne style focused on a combination of English motifs and displayed a mixture of different textures and materials.

Quoin: Units of stone or brick used to accentuate the corners of a building.

R

Raking Cornice:- Much like a cornice, a raking cornice is any projection from the edge of a wall, but a raking cornice is any cornice, which is not perfectly horizontally oriented. (Hartt)

Relief: 1. Sculptural elements which can not be viewed from all sides, but are instead engaged in the surface of the material from which they were carved. 2. The amount of projection and recession of the material or elements present in a carved work.

Renaissance: An era and style in art history beginning in Rome Italy, and spreading through Europe from 1450- 1600. This was a period following the dark ages of intense revival in all areas of math, science, arts, and humanities. It is often refereed to as the rebirth of the classics, as the participants looked to the texts and monuments of the Greco-Roman civilizations for inspiration and direction.

Ribbed groin vaults: Ribbed groin vaults are also known as cross vaults. Ribbed groin vaults replaced Romanesque barrel vaults as the means to cover the nave because ribbed groin vaults allow the addition of clerestory windows. Placing two barrel vaults at right angles creates groin vaults. Ribbed groin vaults are groin vaults reinforced with extra stone ribbing. Adding stone to reinforce the seams of these new vaults creates a skeletal look or a resemblance to ribs, hence “ribbed groin vaults.” In Gothic times, flying buttresses (located on the exterior) were used to reinforce these heavy stone vaults and the tile roofs they supported.

Romanesque: Originally a Medieval style that uses the Roman round arch and very thick walls.

S

Scagliola: Faux marble.

Side Aisle: One of the long walkspaces, which flank both sides of the length of the nave. The side aisle is usually separated from the nave by an arcade on columns.

Site-specific art: is art that deals with, conceptually and/or physically, the environment in which it is placed. The historical or present use of the site is often referenced, adding another layer of information to be considered when viewing the piece.

Spire: A vertically oriented tower, often seen in pairs, in a church design.

Stations of the Cross:

1. Jesus Christ is condemned to death.
2. Jesus carries the cross he will die on.
3. Jesus falls down carrying the cross the first time.
4. Jesus is met by his mother, Mary.
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross.
6. Veronica wipes clean the face of Jesus.
7. Jesus falls a second time.
8. Jesus is met by multiple women from Jerusalem.
9. Jesus falls for a third and final time.
10. Jesus is disrobed.
11. Jesus becomes nailed to the cross.
12. Jesus dies on the cross.
13. Jesus’ body is taken down.
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

T

Terrazzo: A flooring material of marble or stone chips set in mortar and polished when dry.

Tower: Any vertical projection which is significantly taller than it is wide. Towers in church designs were intended to reach toward the heavens and are referred to as spires.

Tracery: was developed mainly in British cathedrals and was used to bring attention to the windows in a building because of conservative interior designs.

Transept: An open hall that passes in a perpendicular manner through the nave of a church near the apse end, producing a cruciform ground plan.

Triglyphs: Column like panels flanking the metope on the frieze of entablatures of the Doric order.

Turret: A small, ornamental tower on a building.

U

V

Veranda: An open porch, usually roofed.

Volutes: The downward oriented spiral ornamentation present on the capitals of columns of the Ionic order.

Voussoirs: 1. The wedge shaped blocks used to create a true arch. The center Voussoir is known as the keystone. 2. A wedge

W

X

Y

Z