pedestal

views updated

pedestal. Substructure, consisting of a plinth, dado (or die), and cornice, beneath a column-base in Classical architecture; used as a support for an obelisk, statue, urn, etc.; or found in balustrades, terminating rows of balusters, and supporting vases etc. A Classical podium is a continuous elongated external pedestal, while inside a building it is expressed as a chair-rail, dado, and skirting. Orders used on triumphal arches have pedestals for reasons of composition and massing in the combination of arcuated and columnar and trabeated forms. See also Baluster.

More From encyclopedia.com