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Coffered
A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also called ''caissons'' ("boxes"), or ''lacunaria'' ("spaces, openings"), so that a coffered ceiling can be called a ''lacunar'' ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers. History The stone coffers of the ancient Greeks and Romans are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-century BC Etruscan chamber tomb in the necropolis of San Giuliano, which is cut in soft tufa-like stone reproduces a ceiling with beams and cross-beams lying on them, with flat panels filling the ''lacunae''. For centuries, it was thought that wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in the Loire Valley châteaux of the early Renaissance. In 2012, however, archaeologists working under the Packard Hum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on the orders of King Casimir III the Great and enlarged over the centuries into a number of structures around an Italian-styled courtyard. It represents nearly all European architectural styles of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The castle is part of a fortified architectural complex erected atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula River, at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level.Dr. Jan Urban, "Geological foundation of Kraków"retrieved from the Internet Archive, May 21, 2008 The complex consists of numerous buildings of great historical and national importance, including the Wawel Cathedral where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried. Some of Wawel's oldest stone buildings can be traced back to 9 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapelle Expiatoire
The Chapelle expiatoire ("Expiatory Chapel")''expiatoire'' does not appear in contemporaneous sources; it was added later. is a chapel located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. The chapel was constructed on the grounds where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had been buried after they had been guillotined, and it is therefore dedicated to them. The closest métro station is Saint-Augustin . History and construction The chapel was designed in 1816 by the French Neo-Classical architect Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, who, with his partner Charles Percier, figured among Napoleon's favourite architects. Fontaine's assistant Louis-Hippolyte Lebas oversaw the construction. The chapel was partly constructed on the grounds of the former Madeleine Cemetery, where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had been buried after they had been guillotined. King Louis XVIII shared the 3 million livres expense of building the ''Chapelle expiatoire'' with the Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a matter of controversy and there are a wide variety of forms and specialized terms to describe them. A dome can rest directly upon a rotunda wall, a drum, or a system of squinches or pendentives used to accommodate the transition in shape from a rectangular or square space to the round or polygonal base of the dome. The dome's apex may be closed or may be open in the form of an oculus, which may itself be covered with a roof lantern and cupola. Domes have a long architectural lineage that extends back into prehistory. Domes were built in ancient Mesopotamia, and they have been found in Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Chinese architecture in the ancient world, as well as among a number of indigenous building traditions throughout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities. The style was carried to Spain, France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts, as demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in particular ancient Roman architecture, of which many examples remained. Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herculaneum
Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the nearby city of Pompeii, Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities to be preserved nearly intact, as the ash that blanketed the town protected it against looting and elements. Although less known than Pompeii today, it was the first, and the only discovered buried Vesuvian city (in 1709) for a long time. Pompeii was revealed only in 1748 and identified in 1763. Unlike Pompeii, the mainly pyroclastic material that covered Herculaneum carbonized and preserved more wood in objects such as roofs, beds, and doors, as well as other organic-based materials such as food and papyrus. According to the traditional tale, the city was rediscovered by chance in 1709, during the drilling of a well. Remnants of the city, however, were alrea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of Florence, this building was also known by several other names: ''Palazzo del Popolo'', ''Palazzo dei Priori'', and ''Palazzo Ducale'', in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno River to the Palazzo Pitti. History In 1299, the commune and people of Florence decided to build a palace that would be worthy of the city's importance, and that would be more secure and defensible in times of turbulence for the magistrates of the commune.Bartlett, 37. Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the first 12 sites granted the status. The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim Ibn Yakoub, a merchant from Cordoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plafond
A plafond (French for "ceiling"), in a broad sense, is a (flat, vaulted or dome) ceiling. A plafond can be a product of monumental painting or sculpture. Picturesque plafonds can be painted directly on plaster (as a fresco, oil, glutinous, synthetic paints), on a canvas attached to a ceiling (panel), or a mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop .... As a decorative feature of churches and staterooms, plafonds were popular from the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century. Designs of this period typically used illusionistic ceiling painting showing the architectural structure behind, strongly foreshortened figures, architectural details, and/or the open sky. References {{architecturalelement-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caisson (Asian Architecture)
The caisson (), also referred to as a caisson ceiling, or ''spider web ceiling'', in East Asian architecture is an architectural feature typically found in the ceiling of temples and palaces, usually at the centre and directly above the main throne, seat, or religious figure. The caisson is generally a sunken panel set into the ceiling. It is often layered and richly decorated. Common shapes include squares, octagons, hexagons, circles, and a combination of these. Name The ''caisson'' is a general name for a coffer. In the case of East Asian architecture, however, the caisson is characterised by highly developed conventions as to its structure and placement. Structure The caisson is a sunken panel placed in the centre of the ceiling. It is raised above the level of the ceiling through use of the ''dougong'' (斗栱) structure, which, through interlocking structural members, as beams were not used, creates successive levels of diminishing size. Beams may also be used to create a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Chinese Wooden Architecture
Ancient Chinese wooden architecture is a style of Chinese architecture. In the West it has been studied less than other architectural styles. Although Chinese architectural history reaches far back in time, descriptions of Chinese architecture are often confined to the well known Forbidden City with little else explored by the West. Although common features of Chinese architecture have been unified into a vocabulary illustrating uniquely Chinese forms and methods, until recently data has not been available. Because of the lack of knowledge of the roots of Chinese architecture, the descriptions of its elements are often translated into Western terms and architectural theory, losing their unique Chinese meanings. A cause of this deficiency is that the two most important Chinese government architecture manuals, the Song Dynasty ''Yingzao Fashi'' and Qing Architecture Standards have never been translated into any western language. Historical records Ancient Chinese architecture has num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon (, ; la, Pantheum,Although the spelling ''Pantheon'' is standard in English, only ''Pantheum'' is found in classical Latin; see, for example, Pliny, '' Natural History'36.38 "Agrippas Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis". See also ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'', s.v. "Pantheum"; ''Oxford English Dictionary'', s.v"Pantheon" "post-classical Latin ''pantheon'' a temple consecrated to all the gods (6th cent.; compare classical Latin ''pantheum'')". from Greek ''Pantheion'', " empleof all the gods") is a former Roman temple and, since 609 AD, a Catholic church (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres or Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs) in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). It was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated 126 AD. Its date of construction is uncertain, because Hadrian chose not to inscribe the new temple but rather to retain t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda () is any building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (a famous example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A ''band rotunda'' is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome. Rotunda in Central Europe A great number of parochial churches were built in this form in the 9th to 11th centuries CE in Central Europe. These round churches can be found in great number in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia (particularly Dalmatia) Austria, Bavaria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. It was thought of as a structure descending from the Roman Pantheon. However, it can be found mainly not on former Roman territories, but in Central Europe. Generally its size was 6–9 meters inner diameter and the apse was directed toward the east. Sometimes three or four apses were attached to the central circle and this type has rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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