entablature

Examples of entablature in the following topics:

• Classical Greek Architecture

  • Columns of an early Doric temple, such as the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse, could have a column height to an entablature ratio of 2:1, and a column height to a base diameter ratio of only 4:1.
  • Later, a column height to a diameter ratio of 6:1 became more usual, and there is a column height to an entablature ratio at the Parthenon oapproximately 3:1.
  • Doric entablatures consist of three parts: the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.
  • Decorations were distributed with some variation, and Ionic entablatures often featured formalized bands of motifs.
  • Caryatids—draped female figures used as supporting members to the entablature—were also a feature of the Ionic Order.

• Temple Architecture in the Greek Orientalizing Period

  • On the entablature, the frieze of the façade consisted of a series of reliefs depicting a procession of riders on horseback with little variation.
  • The current cracked condition of the frieze is a likely indicator that it was assembled in a piecemeal fashion, as opposed to being carved as a singular entablature.
  • Atop the entablature sat sculptures of two winged female creatures resembling the sphinx or the lamassu of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian cultures.

• Renaissance Architecture

  • For instance, church façades of this period are generally surmounted by a pediment and organized by a system of pilasters, arches, and entablatures.
  • During the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an integrated system.

• Temple Architecture in the Greek Archaic Period

  • This was perhaps a way to correct optical illusion or to emphasize the weight of the entablature above, held up by the columns.
  • The Doric entablature was also unique to this style of temples.
  • This further denotes the Greeks unease with building in stone and the need to properly support a stone entablature and heavy roof.

• The Propylaea and the Erechtheion

  • Six towering sculpted women (caryatids) servesupport the entablature of the building.

• Architecture in the Greek High Classical Period

  • The columns became more slender, and the entablature lighter during this period.

• Teotihuacan

  • The sloping base, or talud, of each platform supports a vertical tablero, or entablature, which is surrounded by frame and filled with sculptural decoration.

• Diocletian's Palace

  • Diocletian's palace demonstrates the Roman use of vaults in the substructure and the use of columns, peristyles, and entablatures to create monumental spaces.

• Renaissance Architecture in Florence

  • The Palazzo Rucellai, a palatial townhouse built 1446–51, typified the newly developing features of Renaissance architecture, including a classical ordering of columns over three levels and the use of pilasters and entablatures in proportional relationship to each other.

• Renaissance Architecture in Rome

  • The piano nobile entablature was given a frieze with garlands, added by Michelangelo.