Entablature

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Entablature

An entablature (; Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, and tabula, a tablet) refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above column

Column

File:National Capitol Columns - Washington, D.C..jpgA column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through physical compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below....
s, resting on their capitals

Capital (architecture)

In several traditions of architecture including Classical architecture, the capital forms the crowning member of a column or a pilaster. The capital projects on each side as it rises, in order to support the abacus and unite the form of the latter with the circular shaft of the column....
.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Entablature'

Start a new discussion about 'Entablature'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

An entablature (; Latin

Latin

Column

Capital (architecture)

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is the set of building styles and techniques of Classical Greece, as used in ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, and the Roman empire....
, and are commonly divided into the architrave

Architrave

The architrave is a moulded or ornamental band framing a rectangular opening. It is the lintel or beam that rests on the capital s of the columns....
—the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall immediately above; the frieze

Frieze

In architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain or?in the Ionic order or Corinthian order?decorated with bas-reliefs....
—an unmolded strip that may or may not be ornamented; and the cornice, the projecting member below the pediment

Pediment

A pediment is a classical architecture element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns....
.

The structure of the entablature varies with the three classical order

Classical order

A classical order is one of the ancient styles of building design in the Classical antiquity, distinguished by their proportions and their characteristic profiles and details, but most quickly recognizable by the type of column and capital employed....
s: Doric

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the Classical order of Architecture of Ancient Greece or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic order and the Corinthian order....
, Ionic

Ionic order

The Ionic order column forms one of the Classical order of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric order and the Corinthian order....
, and Corinthian

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greece and Rome architecture, characterized by a slender Fluting column and an ornate capital decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls....
. In each, the proportions of the subdivisions (architrave, frieze, cornice) are defined by the proportions of the column in the order. In Roman and Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
interpretations, it is usually around a fourth of the height of the column. Variants of entablature that do not fit these models are usually derived from them.

Pure classical Doric entablature is simple. The architrave, the lowest band, is split, from bottom to top, into the guttae, the regulae, and the taenia
Taenia (architecture)

Derived from the Ancient Greek tainia : "band" or "ribbon", taenia is the Latin word for a small "fillet" molding near the top of the architrave in a Doric order column....
.

The frieze is dominated by the triglyph

Triglyph

Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one....
s, vertically channelled tablets, separated by metopes
Metope (architecture)

In classical architecture, a metope is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric order frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order....
, which may or may not be decorated. The triglyphs sit on top of the taenia, a flat, thin, horizontal protrusion, and are finished at the bottom by decoration (often ornate) of drops, called guttae, which belong to the top of the architrave. The top of the triglyphs meet the protrusion of the cornice from the entablature. The underside of this protrusion is decorated with mutules, tablets that are typically finished with guttae.

The cornice is split into the soffit
Soffit

Soffit , in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element. Examples of soffits include:* the underside of an arch or architrave ,...
, the corona
Corona

A corona is a type of Plasma "celestial body's atmosphere" of the Sun or other celestial body, extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph....
, and the cymatium
Cymatium

Cymatium, a molding on the cornice of some classical architecture buildings. Sometimes decorated with an anthemion. It is characteristic of Ionic columns and can appear as part of the entablature, the epistylium, and the capital....
. The soffit is simply exposed underside. The corona and the cymatium are the principal parts of the cornice.

The Ionic order of entablature adds the fascia
Fascia (architecture)

Fascia is a term which generally describes any vertical surface which spans across the top of columns or across the top of a wall . From the Latin word, meaning "band" or "doorframe"; in architecture....
in the architrave, which are flat horizontal protrusions, and the dentil
Dentil

A Dentil is, in architecture, a small tooth-shaped block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice .Vitruvius states that the dentil represents the end of a rafter ; and since it occurs in its most pronounced form in the Ionic temples of Asia Minor, the Lycian tombs and the porticoes and tombs of Persian Empire, where it...
s under the cornice, which are tooth-like rectangular block moldings.

The Corinthian order adds a far more ornate frieze, divided, from bottom to top, into the cyma reversa, the dentils, the ovulo, the modillions, the fascia, and the cyma recta. The modillions are ornate brackets, similar in use to dentils, but often in the shape of acanthus

Acanthus (ornament)

The acanthus is one of the most common ornaments used to depict foliage. Architectural ornaments are carved in stone or wood in the appearance of leaves from the Mediterranean Acanthus plant, with some resemblance to thistle, poppy and parsley leaves....
leaves.

The frieze is sometimes omitted—for example, on the portico of the caryatides of the Erechtheum—and probably did not exist as a structure in the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Neither is it found in the Lycian tombs, which are reproductions in the rock of timber structures based on early lonian work. The entablature is essentially an evolution of the primitive lintel

Lintel

A lintel or header is a horizontal Beam used in the construction of buildings, and is a major architectural contribution of ancient Greece....
, which spans two posts, supporting the ends of the roof rafters.

The entablature together with the system of classical columns is rarely found outside of classical architecture. It is often used to complete the upper portion of a wall where columns are not present, and in the case of pilasters (flattened columns or projecting from a wall) or detached or engaged column

Engaged column

In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi or three-quarter detached....
s it is sometimes profiled around them. The use of the entablature, irrespective of columns, appeared after the Renaissance.

Entablature

See also