Final Vocabulary - ARC 133 - Intro to Architecture History - Syracuse University

Last Updated 4.8 - (Pendentive will be on the exam)

Tetrarchy

Rule by four; the system instituted by Emperor Diocletian in 293 to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the augusti, and their designated successors, the caesares.

Bay

A regularly repeated spatial unit of a building or wall, defined by vaults, windows, orders, or other prominent vertical features.

Hypocaust

An ancient Roman central heating system using hot air ducts in the floors of the building.

Spolia

Recycled fragments from other monuments.

Catacomb

An underground system of passages used as a cemetery.

Loculus (pl. loculi)

An architectural compartment or niche that houses a body in a place of entombment.

Cubiculum (pl. cubicula)

A private room in a domus.

Lunette

A semicircular window or wall panel framed by an arch or vault.

Aisle

A lateral division of a church running parallel to the central nave and separated by colonnades.

Apse

A vaulted, semicircular, or semipolygonal space usually found at the sanctuary end of a church.

Transept

The transverse arms of a cross-shaped church, crossing the main axis at a right angle.

Narthex

The transverse vestibule of an early Christian church.

Longitudinal Axis

The main lengthwise axis of a building.

Latin Cross Plan

Church plan with long nave with shorter transept, also known as basilican plan.

Nave Arcade

A series of arches supported by columns separating the nave from the side aisles.

Central Plan

A ground plan that is symmetrical in all directions.

Mausoleum

A monumental building that houses a tomb or tombs.

Ambulatory

A processional passageway around a shrine or flanking the apse of a church.

Mosaic

Surface decoration formed by small cubes of glass or stone (tesserae) set in mortar or plaster.

Theocracy

A system of government ruled in the name of God or a god.

Pendentive

A curving triangular surface that makes the transition from the corners of a square or polygonal room to a circular dome or drum.

Squinch

A structural element used to support the base of a circular or octagonal dome that surmounts a square-plan chamber.

Hanging Architecture

A structure with a design that develops downwards, giving the appearance of being suspended.

Exedra

A semicircular or rectangular recess.

Greek Cross

A cross with four arms of equal length, often used in the plan of Byzantine churches.

Caliph

Muslim ruler.

Caliphate

The rule or reign of a caliph.

Hajj

The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five ‘pillars’ of the Islamic faith.

Qibla

The direction of the Kaaba, to which Muslims turn at prayer.

Ablaq

Arabic term for alternating bands of different colored masonry.

Kufic Script

The angular, intertwined lettering of the Arabic alphabet used to decorate Islamic religious buildings.

Mihrab

A niche in the qibla wall of a Muslim religious building indicating the direction towards Mecca.

Qibla Wall

The wall indicating the proscribed Muslim alignment to Mecca to which all mosques and tombs are oriented.

Minaret

A tall, slender tower at a mosque, from which the faithful are called to prayer by the crier or muezzin.

Sahn

The open courtyard of an Islamic building.

Congregational Mosque

Mosque where the community of believers come to worship and hear a sermon on Fridays.

Ablution

Ritual or ceremonial act of washing before prayer.

Horseshoe Arch

A type of arch with an opening at the bottom that is narrower than the full span of the arch.

Mappa Mundi

A medieval European map of the world.

Blind Alley

A narrow passage, street, or lane that is closed at one end.

Voussoir

A wedge-shaped block that is one of the units of an arch or vault.

Maksura

The screened-off area near the mihrab niche for the ruling elite in a royal mosque.

Lobed Arch

An arch characterized by multiple circular arcs or leaf shapes (lobes) cut into its interior profile.

Muqarnas

Honeycomb or stalactite decoration of a vault or overhang, usually made with plaster as a succession of small niches.

Canon

A body of works, in this case architecture, accepted as the most highly valued.

Tukul

Round housing type with a conical thatched roof, common in eastern Africa.

Zimbabwe

Stone house or structure.

Animism

The attribution of a soul or spirit to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

Oba

King.

Impluvium

Sunken area that collects rainwater.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human characteristics to a non-human entity.

Toguna

Public building with a low roof; “house of words,” “great shelter."

Torons

Projecting wood beams.

Mandala

Diagram of the cosmos made from overlaid geometric patterns, used as the basis for the plan of monumental religious structures in South and Southeast Asia.

Rendented

Formed like the teeth of a saw, indented.

Buddhist Eightfold Path

Set of eight practices for reaching enlightenment.

Pradakshina

The clockwise circumambulation of pilgrims.

Prakaram

A walled enclosure in a Hindu temple, compound, similar to a temenos.

Mandapa

Hypostyle assembly halls.

Shikara

Pyramidal tower built over the sanctuary (garbha griha) of a Hindu temple.

Feudalism

A form of structuring society based on land holding in exchange for labor.

Westwork

The narthex, chapels, and twin towers set at the west entrance of Carolingian churches.

Monastery

The enclosure for a religious order living apart from society.

Relic

A part of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings kept as an object of reverence thought to have power to heal the body and the soul.

Reliquary

A container that holds the relic itself.

Radiating Chapels

A series of chapels that extend from the curve of an ambulatory or apse.

Rib

A narrow, projecting band on a ceiling or vault, usually structural but sometimes merely decorative, enforcing the lines of structure.

Gallery

An upper story that runs above the side aisles and opens to the nave.

Tribune

Closed gallery area.

Cloister

A monastery courtyard, usually planted, enclosed by a covered ambulatory.

Guild

A medieval association of craftspeople or merchants, often having considerable power.

Buttress

An exterior mass, usually shaped like a thick rib or flange, that helps to support a wall.

Rose Window

A circular, wheel-like window with mullions or tracery radiating in a form suggestive of a rose.

Ribbed Vaults

The articulation of groin vaults with ribs.

Chevet

A series of radiating chapels extending from the apse of a Gothic church.

Lux Nova

New light; a transcendent metaphor for God.

Triforium

A shallow arcaded passageway above the nave arcade and below the clerestory, each bay having three arches.

Lancet Window

Tall, narrow window with a pointed arch.

Flying Buttress

A buttress slanting from a separate pier, typically forming an arch with the wall it supports.

Tracery

A pattern of curvilinear, perforated ornament within the upper part of a medieval window or screen.

Rayonnant Style

Gothic style that emphasizes elaboration of surface detail with linear motifs and enlarged windows to create “radiant” colored light.

Mullion

A vertical bar between the panes of glass in a window.

Scissor Arches

Curving X-shaped arches.