Engaged column

Engaged columns embedded in the side walls of the cella of the Maison Carrée at Nîmes (left side of the image)

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.[1] Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in abundance, most commonly embedded in the cella walls[1] of pseudoperipteral buildings.

Engaged column vs. pilaster

Engaged columns serve a similar function as wall buttresses but are distinct from pilasters, which by definition are ornamental and not structural.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Engaged Column". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 404–405.
  • Stierlin, Henri The Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire, TASCHEN, 2002


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