Architecture Glossary

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Bacini – Painted and glazed earthenware plates and blows of c. 1200 imbedded as decoration on faηades and exteriors of Italian Romanesque churches, campanili and occasionally othe buildings

Bacini in the campanile of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome

Baguette or bagnette – A small moulding of semicircular section, like an astragal; also a frame with a small bead moulding.

Fragment of Baguette

Balcony - A platform projecting from a wall directly outside a door on an upper level of a building. Balconies can be continuous (wraparound), that is, having several doors open onto them, or discrete, that is, accessible through, and adjacent to, one door alone.

Balcony Art Nouveau - Geneve

Baluster – A short post or pillar in a series supporting a rail or coping and thus a balustrade.

Balustrade - A railing system, generally around a balcony or on a second level, consisting of balusters and a top rail.

Banding - Different materials, colours or textures used in horizontal bands along a wall.

Baptistery or Baptistry (Latin baptisterium) - The separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistery may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel.

Bar tracery - Tracery which is composed of thin stone elements rather than thick ones as in plate tracery The glass rather than the stone dominates when bar tracery is used. It gives a more delicate, web-like effect.

Barbed quatrefoil - a four-lobed geometrical motif with a triangular projection at the intersection of two adjacent foils.

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia – Ravenna (500)

Barrel vault or tunnel vault - The simplest form of a vault, consisting of a continuous surface of semicircular or pointed sections. It resembles a barrel or tunnel which has been cut in half lengthwise.

Bas-relief - a method of sculpting which entails carving or etching away the surface of a flat piece of stone or metal. The word is derived from the Italian basso rilievo, the literal translation meaning raised contrast.

Battlement – A parapet with alternating indentations or embrasures and raised portions or merlons; also called crenellation.

San Giminiano

Bay – A vertical division of the exterior or interior of a building marked not by walls but by fenestration, an order, buttresses, units of vaulting, roof compartments, etc.

Bay window - a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan.

Bead moulding – A small cylindrical moulding enriched with ornament resembling a string of beads; used in the Romanesque period.

Beam – In roof construction a transverse, horizontal timber. In the body of a building a main horizontal timber supporting floor or ceiling joists.

Belvedere - Belle vedere means beautiful view in Italian. A belvedere is an architectural feature on a roof, in a garden, or on a terrace, that affords a beautiful view.

Billet – A Romanesque moulding consisting of several bands of raised short cylinders or square pieces placed at regular intervals

Blind Arch - An arch that has been filled in by brick or stone. This could be original decoration or part of a renovation

Boss – An ornamental knob or projection covering the intersection of ribs in a vault or ceiling; often carved with foliage.

Bracket – A small supporting piece of stone or other material, often formed of scrolls or volutes, to carry a projecting weight.

Broken Pediment - a Baroque and Rococco style of pediment that is purposely broken either at the bottom or at the top for decorative effect.

Buttress – A mass of masonry or brick-work projecting from or built against a wall to give additional strength, usually to counteract the lateral thrust of an arch, roof, or vault.

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