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 ...
or
hallway of columns surrounding the
cella in an ancient Greek
peripteral 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
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλι� ...
) 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, it is also used of the area between the
baluster 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.
...
).
References
Ancient Greek architecture
Ancient Roman architecture
Architectural elements
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