Engaged column

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Engaged columns embedded in the side walls of the cella of the Maison Carrée at Nimes (right side of the image)
Engaged columns embedded in the side walls of the cella of the Maison Carrée at Nimes (right 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. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in profusion, most commonly embedded in the cella walls of pseudoperipteral buildings

Engaged columns are distinct from pilasters, which by definition are ornamental and not structural.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] See also

[edit] References