Floor Plan

Architectural Terms

Dome - a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure, typically with a circular base

Nave - the central part of a church building, intended to accommodate most of the congregation. In traditional Western churches it is rectangular, separated from the chancel by a step or rail, and from adjacent aisles by pillars.

Transept - (in a cross-shaped church) either of the two parts forming the arms of the cross shape, projecting at right angles from the nave.

Fresco - a painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colors penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries

Pilaster - a rectangular column, especially one projecting from a wall

Stucco - fine exterior or interior plasterwork used as three-dimensional ornamentation

Gilding - the material used in, or the surface produced by applying gold leaf or gold paint

Façade - the face of a building, especially the principal front that looks onto a street or open space

Entablature -a horizontal, continuous lintel on a classical building supported by columns or a wall, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice

Pediment - the triangular upper part of the front of a building in classical style, typically surmounting a portico of columns

Corinthian - characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate flared capital decorated with acanthus leaves

Flying Buttress - a masonry structure that typically consists of a straight inclined bar carried on an arch and a solid pier or buttress against which it abuts and that receives the thrust of a roof or vault