The peristasis ( grc-gre, περίστασις) was a four-sided

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

hallway A hallway or corridor is an interior space in a building that is used to connect other rooms. Hallways are generally long and narrow. Hallways must be sufficiently wide to ensure buildings can be evacuated during a fire, and to allow people i ...

of columns surrounding the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek temple, Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extende ...

in an ancient Greek

peripteral A peripteros (a peripteral building, grc-gre, περίπτερος) is a type of ancient Greek or Roman temple surrounded by a portico with columns. It is surrounded by a colonnade ('' pteron'') on all four sides of the ''cella'' (''naos''), crea ...

temple. This allowed priests to pass round the cella (along a

pteron Pteron ( Gr. ''πτερον'' – ''pteron'' — ''wing'') is an architectural term used by Pliny the Elder for the peristyle of the tomb of Mausolus, which was raised on a lofty podium, and so differed from an ordinary peristyle raised only on a s ...

) in cultic processions. If such a hall of columns surrounds a patio or garden, it is called a

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...

rather than a peristasis. In

ecclesial architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of churches, convents, seminaries etc. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by borrowing other architectural styles as ...

, it is also used of the area between the

baluster 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 cons ...

of a Catholic church and the high altar (what is usually called the sanctuary or

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

References

Ancient Greek architecture Ancient Roman architecture Architectural elements {{Architecturalelement-stub