A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s or console brackets, and enclosed with a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

, usually above the ground floor.

Types

The traditional

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a wall. By contrast, a

Juliet balcony Balconet or balconette is an architectural term to describe a false balcony, or railing at the outer plane of a window-opening reaching to the floor, and having, when the window is open, the appearance of a balcony. They are common in France, Po ...

does not protrude out of the building. It is usually part of an upper floor, with a balustrade only at the front, like a small

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

. A modern Juliet balcony often involves a metal barrier placed in front of a high window that can be opened. In the UK, the technical name for one of these was officially changed in August 2020 to a ''Juliet guarding''. Juliet balconies are named after

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's Juliet, who, in traditional stagings of the play ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'', is courted by Romeo while she is on her balcony—though the play itself, as written, makes no mention of a balcony, but only of a window at which Juliet appears. Various types of balcony have been used in depicting this famous scene; however the 'balcony of Juliet' at Villa Capuleti in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

is not a 'Juliet balcony', as it does indeed protrude from the wall of the villa (see photograph below). The Julian Balcony is a slightly larger version of the well-known Juliet Balcony, protruding slightly from the wall, unlike the smaller Juliet balcony, and spanning at least two windows rather than one.

Functions

A unit with a regular balcony will have doors that open onto a small

patio A patio (, from es, patio ; "courtyard", "forecourt", "yard", "little garden") is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved. In Australia the term is expanded to include roofed str ...

with railings, a small patio garden or

skyrise greenery A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational oppo ...

. A

French balcony Balconet or balconette is an architectural term to describe a false balcony, or railing at the outer plane of a window-opening reaching to the floor, and having, when the window is open, the appearance of a balcony. They are common in France, Por ...

is a false balcony, with doors that open to a railing with a view of the courtyard or the surrounding scenery below. Sometimes balconies are adapted for ceremonial purposes, e.g. that of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, when the newly elected

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

gives his blessing ''

urbi et orbi ''Urbi et Orbi'' ('to the city f Romeand to the world') denotes a papal address and apostolic blessing given by the pope on certain solemn occasions. Etymology The term ''Urbi et Orbi'' evolved from the consciousness of the ancient Roman Empi ...

'' after the

conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Ro ...

. Inside churches, balconies are sometimes provided for the singers, and in banqueting halls and the like for the musicians. In theatres, the ''balcony'' was formerly a stage-box, but the name is now usually confined to the part of the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

above the dress circle and below the gallery. Balconies are part of the sculptural shape of the building allowing for irregular facades without the cost of irregular internal structures. In addition to functioning as an outdoor space for a dwelling unit, balconies can also play a secondary role in building sustainability and

indoor environmental quality (IEQ) Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building * Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality * Built e ...

. Balconies have been shown to provide an overhang effect that helps prevent interior overheating by reducing

solar gain Solar gain (also known as solar heat gain or passive solar gain) is the increase in thermal energy of a space, object or structure as it absorbs incident solar radiation. The amount of solar gain a space experiences is a function of the total in ...

, and may also have benefits in terms of blocking noise and improving natural ventilation within units.

Materials

Balconies can be made out of various materials, however the most popular used to be stone. With the rise of technology and the modern age, balconies are now able to be built out of other materials, including glass and stainless steel to provide a durable and modern look to a building.

Notable balconies

One of the most famous uses of a balcony is in traditional stagings of the scene that has come to be known as the "balcony scene" in Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet'' (though the scene makes no mention of a balcony, only of a window at which Juliet appears). File:Edouard Manet - The Balcony - Google Art Project.jpg,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bor ...

: ''Le balcon'' File:Romeo and juliet brown.jpg,

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

, the balcony scene from ''

File:Júlia balkonja, Verona.jpg, The balcony of Juliet at Villa Capuleti in

File:2014 02 13 14 13 13 Milano ITALY Palazzo Cusani balcone balcon photo Paolo Villa FOTO3970.JPG,

Palazzo Cusani A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) File:The British royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.JPG, Members of the British Royal Family on the East Front Balcony at Buckingham Palace, 2013

Balcony names

Manufacturers' names for their balcony railing designs often refer to the origin of the design, e.g. Italian balcony, Spanish balcony, Mexican balcony, Ecuadorian balcony. They also refer to the shape and form of the pickets used for the balcony railings, e.g. knuckle balcony. Within the construction industry it is normal for balconies to be named descriptively. For example, slide-on cassette balconies referring to the modern method used to install aluminium balconies or cast-insitu balconies relating to concrete balconies poured on a construction site.

Gallery

Maheshwar Fort - Jharokha 02.jpg, Indian balcony of th
Maheshwar Fort

Maheshwar Maheshwar is a town, near Khargone, Khargone city in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh state, in central India. It is located on State Highway-38 (Khargone, Khargone city-Barwaha- Bandheri Highway),13.5 km east of National Highway 3 (Agra ...

, India Palais ducal nancy.JPG,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

balconies of the

Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine The Ducal Palace of Nancy (French: ''Palais ducal du Nancy'') is a former princely residence in Nancy, France, which was home to the Dukes of Lorraine. It houses the Musée Lorrain, one of Nancy's principal museums, dedicated to the art, hist ...

, Nancy, France Caen église Saint Pierre balcon daté 1518.JPG,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

balcony of the Church of Saint-Pierre,

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Baroque balcony design of th
Hôtel de Boullongne
Paris File:Balcony Grille (France), ca. 1700 (CH 18159287).jpg,

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

balcony in the Cooper–Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City 65 Rue de Rivoli, Paris (02).jpg, Neoclassical balcony of building no. 65 on Rue de Rivoli in Paris Доходный дом А.И. Нежинской-4.jpg,

Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

balcony in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

Strasbourg Gallia03.jpg,

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

balcony in Strasbourg, France Rue Fabert, 38bis balcony.jpg,

Rococo Revival The Rococo Revival style emerged in Second Empire France and then was adapted in England. Revival of the rococo style was seen all throughout Europe during the 19th century within a variety of artistic modes and expression including decorative ...

balcony of building no. 38 bis on Rue Fabert, Paris Balcony of The Gheorghe Petrașcu House.jpg, Romanian Revival balcony of th
Gheorghe Petrașcu House
in the Roman Square,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

File:FinnishNationalTheatreDetail.jpg,

National romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

balcony of the

Finnish National Theatre The Finnish National Theatre ( fi, Suomen Kansallisteatteri), established in 1872, is a theatre located in central Helsinki on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square. The Finnish National Theatre is the oldest Finnish ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland Colossal order 8 avenue Opera Paris.jpg, Beaux-Arts balcony of building no. 8 on Avenue de l'Opéra, Paris Villa Brion - Balcon (41733506711).jpg,

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

balcony with a

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

under it, on the façade of the

Hôtel Brion The Hôtel Brion, also known as Villa Brion, is a small Art Nouveau hôtel particulier on rue Sleidan in the Neustadt district of Strasbourg, in the French department of the Bas-Rhin. It has been classified as a Monument historique since 1975. ...

from Strasbourg, France Annecy balcons art déco 2.jpg,

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

balcony in

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

, France Coffee cup-shaped balconies, Niimi Tableware, Kappabashi Dougu Street, Tokyo, Japan (side view).jpg,

Postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

coffee cup-shaped balconies in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Architectural elements Garden features Floors Parts of a theatre ta:பலுக்கல்