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A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
 over a square room or an elliptical
Ellipse

In mathematics, an ellipse is the apparent shape of a circle viewed obliquely from outside it, as distinct from a hyperbola which is the shape seen from inside....
 dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
 over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere
Sphere

A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface....
, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or elliptical base needed for the dome. In masonry the pendentives thus receive the weight of the dome, concentrating it at the four corners where it can be received by the piers
Pier (architecture)

In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers....
 beneath.






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A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
 over a square room or an elliptical
Ellipse

In mathematics, an ellipse is the apparent shape of a circle viewed obliquely from outside it, as distinct from a hyperbola which is the shape seen from inside....
 dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
 over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere
Sphere

A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface....
, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or elliptical base needed for the dome. In masonry the pendentives thus receive the weight of the dome, concentrating it at the four corners where it can be received by the piers
Pier (architecture)

In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers....
 beneath. Prior to the pendentive's development, the device of corbelling
Corbel

In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger"....
 or the use of the squinch
Squinch

A squinch in architecture is a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive an octagonal or sphere dome....
 in the corners of a room had been employed. The first attempts at pendentives were made by the Romans
Roman architecture

The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek Architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architecture style....
 and full achievement of the form was reached in Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Patriarchate basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture....
 at Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 (6th cent.) by the Eastern Roman Byzantine
Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
 Empire. Pendentives were commonly used in 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....
 and baroque
Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
 churches, with a drum often inserted between the dome and pendentives.In addition, the pendentive is comprised of the geometric shape of a triangle this further makes a strong base to withstand the dome.

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