An exedra adopted by James Cameron for a neoclassical interior space, at the Hermitage

In architecture an exedra is a semicircular recess, often crowned by a half-dome, which is usually set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense (a seat out of doors) was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical conversation. An exedra may also be expressed by a curved break in a colonnade, perhaps with a semi-circular seat. Photo of Hermitage interior, taken August 2003 by Stan Shebs and licensed under GFDL, 400px across File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Photo of Hermitage interior, taken August 2003 by Stan Shebs and licensed under GFDL, 400px across File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... James Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a three-time Academy Award winning Canadian-American film director noted for his action/science fiction films, which are often extremely successful financially. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... The State Hermitage Museum (Государственный Эрмитаж) in St. ... The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, a master builder, from αρχι- chief, leader and τεκτων, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... St Peters Basilica (topped with a lantern), Rome A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. ... The Painted Porch (Stoa poikile), during the 3rd century BC, was where Zeno of Citium taught Stoicism. ... Enormous colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. ...

A classic example of an exedra on a (comparatively) reduced scale within its context, is the central niche of the Trevi Fountain (illus. at that entry) in Rome, sheltering a statue of Neptune. Many classicizing bandshells in public parks are exedras (exedrae is owlishly correct), for the shape, with its half-dome heading, reflects sound forwards. The Hollywood Bowl's shell (illus. at that entry) takes the form of the head of a gargantuan exedra, stripped of classicizing details. Florentine Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi placed his Madonna of the 1440s within a simulated shell-headed niche The niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. ... Trevi Fountain at night. ... Hollywood Bowl opening night 2005. ...

Ruins of the floor of a late Roman villa. The floored part is the exedra. The rest of the room disappeared and shows the columns of the hypocaust.

In the 1st century CE, Nero's architects incorporated exedras throughout the planing of his Domus Aurea, enriching the volumes of the party rooms, a part of what made Nero's palace so breathtakingly pretentious to traditional Romans, for no one had ever seen domes and exedras in a dwelling before. An exedra was normally a public feature: when rhetoricians and philosophers disputed in a Roman gymnasium it was in an exedra opening into the peristyle that they gathered. A basilica featured a large exedra at the far end from its entrance, where the magistrates sat in hearing cases. In Byzantine architecture and Romanesque architecture this familiar feature developed into the Apse and is fully treated there. A famous use of the exedra is in Bramante's Belvedere extension of the Vatican palace. Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 172 KB)Hypocaust from a late Roman villa. ... Download high resolution version (1536x1024, 172 KB)Hypocaust from a late Roman villa. ... Ruins of the hypocaust under the floor of a Roman villa. ... The Domus Aurea (Latin for Golden House) was a large palace built by the Roman emperor Nero after the fire that devastated Rome in 64 AD had cleared the aristocratic dwellings on the slopes of the Esquiline Hill. ... The gymnasium of the Greeks originally functioned as the school where competitors in the public games received their training, and was so named from the circumstance that these competitors exercised naked (gymnos). ... In Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. ... St. ... Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. ... Romanesque St. ... This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ... Donato Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 - March 11, 1514), Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St. ... Belvedere in Italian literally means fair view. ...

In Muslim architecture, the exedra becomes a mihrab and invariably retains religious associations, wherever it is seen, even on the smallest scale, as a prayer niche. Mihrab (in Persian مهراب or محراب, in Arabic ألمحراب pl. ...

Both Baroque and Neoclassical architecture used exedras. Baroque architects (for example, Cortona in his Villa Pigneto to enrich the play of light and shade and give rein to expressive volumes. Neoclassical architects to articulate the rhythmic pacing of a wall elevation. The interior exedra was richly exploited by Scottish neoclassical architect Robert Adam and his followers (see James Cameron's exedra illustration above, left). During the 18th century an exedra became a popular garden feature or folly, often used as an ornamental curved screening wall to hide another part the garden, examples can be found at Belton House and West Wycombe Park Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Pietro da Cortona, byname of Pietro Berettini (November 1, 1596- May 16, 1669) was a prolific artist and architect of High Baroque. ... The Villa Pigneto or the Casino al Pigneto del Marchese Sacchetti or also called the Villa Sacchetti (although a second such villa, also decorated by Cortona and now Villa Chigi, was built at Castelfusano near Ostia) was an architecturally prominent building designed by the Baroque artist Pietro da Cortona. ... Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 1728 - 3 March 1792) was a Scottish architect, interior designer and furniture designer, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. ... James Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a three-time Academy Award winning Canadian-American film director noted for his action/science fiction films, which are often extremely successful financially. ... Belton House, Lincolnshire, The South facade. ... The double colonnade on the south front of West Wycombe is highly unusual in English architecture. ...

External link

• LacusCurtius website: "Exedra," in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, (1875)