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A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear weight.
Coping may be made of stone (capstone), brick, clay or terracotta, concrete or cast stone, tile, slate, wood, thatch, or various metals, including aluminum, copper, stainless steel, steel, and zinc. [3] In all cases it should be weathered (have a slanted or curved top surface) to throw off the water. [1]
The Solomonic column, also called barley-sugar column, is a helical column, characterized by a spiraling twisting shaft like a corkscrew. It is not associated with a specific classical order , although most examples have Corinthian or Composite capitals .
The Ionic column is always more slender than the Doric; therefore, it always has a base: [5] Ionic columns are eight and nine column-diameters tall, and even more in the Antebellum colonnades of late American Greek Revival plantation houses. [citation needed] Ionic columns are most often fluted. After a little early experimentation, the number ...
Post and lintel construction of the Airavatesvara Temple, India, a World Heritage Monument site Leinster House in Dublin retains column-shaped pilasters under a pediment for aesthetic reasons. Post and lintel (also called prop and lintel , a trabeated system , or a trilithic system ) is a building system where strong horizontal elements are ...
For example, the tholos tombs of Bronze Age Mycenae use ashlar masonry in the construction of the so-called "beehive" dome. This dome consists of finely cut ashlar blocks that decrease in size and terminate in a central capstone. [10] These domes are not true domes, but are constructed using the corbel arch.
A single Corinthian column stands free, centered within the cella. This is a mysterious feature, and archaeologists debate what this shows: some state that it is simply an example of a votive column. A few examples of Corinthian columns in Greece during the next century are all used inside temples. A more famous example, and the first ...
The two earliest Egyptian capitals of importance are those based on the lotus and papyrus plants respectively, and these, with the palm tree capital, were the chief types employed by the Egyptians, until under the Ptolemies in the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, various other river plants were also employed, and the conventional lotus capital went through various modifications.