pendentive
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007
In architecture, a triangular segment of a spherical surface that forms the transition between the circular plan of a dome and the polygonal plan of its supporting structure. The problem of placing a round dome on a square base assumed growing importance to Roman builders, but it remained for Byzantine architects to recognize the possibilities of the pendentive and fully develop it ( Hagia Sophia). One of the great architectural inventions of all time, the pendentive became very important in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. As a result of Byzantine influence, pendentives are also frequent in Islamic architecture. The vaulting form in which the curve of the pendentive and dome is continuous is known as a pendentive dome.
Copyright 1994-2007 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research
|
Curio
Indiana Review; 7/1/2007; Estes, Angie; 300 words
; Six A.M., and already Pilate washes his hands, pendentive like the stems of tomatoes after the fruit is gone. And in the wide gold-leaf border that frames the scene in L'Heures de Marguerite d'Orlans, not only have the pages in the book of nature come loose, but the letters have fallen out of the
Read more
|
|
Byzantine Bytes.
Interior Design; 11/1/1999; Geran, Monica; 338 words
; With the aid of computer-generated design drawings, Steven Papadatos recreates the fire-ravaged interiors of a Greek Orthodox cathedral in Brooklyn, New York. IT STARTED WITH a burning candle that, for reasons still unknown, ignited a flammable object in the narthex and spread out of control. This
Read more
|
|
Was Castro Out of Control in 1962?; New Evidence Shows the Soviets Weren't Calling All the Shots in the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Washington Post; 10/11/1987; Seymour M. Hersh; 787 words
; AT THE HEIGHT of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, a key Soviet surface-to-air missile base on the island was attacked, apparently by Cuban troops, with at least 18 Soviet casualties, according to newly-available decoded communications intercepts. Less than 12 hours later, on the morning of
Read more
|
 "The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)")
|
Gitmo back in the news.(Editorials)(Editorial)
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 1/8/2002; 205 words
; Byline: The Register-Guard Its nickname is Gitmo, and the U.S. presence at Guantanamo Bay, a 45-square-mile patch of land on the southeastern tip of Cuba, dates to 1898 when Marines in the Spanish-American War landed there. The Pentagon's announcement that detainees from Afghanistan will be housed
Read more
|
|
(book reviews)
The Journal of the American Oriental Society; 4/1/1996; Kane, Carolyn; 787 words
; The wealth of existing Mughal architecture in north India and Pakistan is illustrated by two remarkable recent books. The book under review is a comprehensive synopsis, enlarging upon the author's Encyclopaedia of Islam article. The other, by Catherine B. Asher, is a more inclusive study:
Read more
|
