Colonnades

In Classical Architecture , a colonnade denotes a long sequence of Column s joined by their Entablature , often free-standing, as in the famous elliptically curving colonnades that Bernini added to the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome , which embrace and define the Piazza . Compare the sequence of baluster forms that go to make a Balustrade .

A colonnade of single columns is often termed a ''screen.'' When in front of a building, screening the door (Latin ''porta''), it is called a Portico , when enclosing an open court, a Peristyle . A portico may be more than one rank of columns deep, as at the Pantheon in Rome or the Stoae of Ancient Greece . Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade, but the porch of columns that surrounds a ''peripteral'' Classical temple (such as the Lincoln Memorial ) can be termed a colonnade. Since the largest number of columns across the front of a classical temple front is normally eight (constituting an ''octastyle'' temple), it might be argued that a colonnade must have more than eight pairs. Certainly the proportions of a colonnade require that it be more than twice as long as it is tall.

At the British Museum porticos are continued along the front as a colonnade.

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Colonnades

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