- Peristyle
In Greek and
Roman architecture a peristyle is acolumn edporch or opencolonnade in abuilding that surrounds a court that may contain an internalgarden . "Tetrastoon" (Greek: "four arcades") is another name for this feature. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from Roman precedents, abasilica , such as Old St Peter's in Rome, would stand behind a peristyle forecourt that sheltered it from the street. In time thecloister developed from the peristyle.In rural settings a wealthy Roman could surround a
villa with terraced gardens; within the city Romans created their gardens inside the "domus ". The "peristylium" was an open courtyard within the house; the columns or square pillars surrounding the garden supported a shady roofedportico whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings of landscapes and "trompe-l'oeil " architecture. Sometimes the lararium, a shrine for theLares , the gods of the household, was located in this portico, or it might be found in the atrium. The courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and even fish ponds.Though the Egyptians did not use the Greek term "peristyle", historians have adopted it to describe similar structures in Egyptian palace architecture and in
Levant ine houses known as liwan houses.ee also
*
Decastyle
*Hexastyle
*Hypostyle
*Octostyle
*Portico
*Tetrastyle External links
* [http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/garden.html Barbara McManus, "The Peristylium"] : a reconstruction of a peristyle
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