Pendentive

The curved triangular surface that results when the top corner of a square space is vaulted so as to provide a circular base for a dome.

pendentive

1. One of a set of curved wall surfaces which form a transition between a dome (or its drum) and the supporting masonry.

2. In medieval architecture and derivatives, one of a set of surfaces vaulted outward from a pier, corbel, or the like.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Pendentive

a curved, triangular feature whose purpose is to enable a circular dome or drum to be supported above a square substructure. The top of the triangle is inverted, filling the space between the arches that join the adjacent pillars of the substructure. The bases of the triangles of the pendentives form a circle and distribute the load of the dome along the perimeter of the arches. Being one of the basic structural elements of Byzantine architecture, pendentives were characteristic of ancient Russian churches. They are also seen in domed buildings of the Renaissance and of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

REFERENCES

Kuznetsov, A. V. Svody i ikh dekor. Moscow, 1938.
Smith, E. The Dome. Princeton, 1950.

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References in periodicals archive

Characteristics of Architecture 1 Columned-hall plan without dome 2 Cruciform plan 3 Square four-arched plan 4 Octagonal plan 5 Binary domes 6 Entrance complex 7 Green space within the courtyard 8 Ribbed dome 9 Dome over the Cylinder 10 Discrete two-layered dome 11 Toronbeh Cornering 12 Sekonj (pendentive arch) cornering 13 A plexus of arches for covering the inner dome 14 Artificial two-floor courtyard 15 Galleries in two sides of the ivan 16 Minarets in two or four sides of the building 17 Arches over cylindrical stone columns 18 Octagonal stone based- minaret with cylindrical shaft 19 Stone architecture 20 Brick architecture Name of the Building 1 1.

The characteristics of Shiraz School of Architecture; a study on the architecture of Fars in 13th to 15th Centuries

He theorizes about the appearance of the stalactite pendentive in Aswan, suggesting that it was a local interpretation of muqarnas domes and squinches seen by pilgrims in the Hijaz.

Muqarnas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture, vol. 5

The dome above the mausoleum has wooden pendentives that are painted with magnificent decorations.

Barquq Mosque: Architectural masterpiece in heart of Cairo

Expanding his gaze chronologically and geographically, Mathews makes splendid use of the wall paintings in the Red Monastery at Deir Anba Bishai in Egypt, conserved since 2002, although his account of Ezekiel's vision introduces some later confusion into his discussion of the hexapteryga --the sloe-eyed, six-winged celestial creatures who support God in the pendentives of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, whom he describes as cherubim (Fig.

Pagan influences: Anthony Cutler enjoys a combative study of the links between ancient and Christian art

Nelson ends on a fascinating note, an image of the newly-revealed face of a seraphim from one of the pendentives at Hagia Sophia, in which the modernist qualities attributed to Byzantine art are missing: here is a figure that is individualized and corporeal.

Byzantium/Modernism: Eds Roland Betancourt and Maria Taroutina

Mark Justiniani's installation of wood, lights, metal and mirrors is derived from the classic interior architecture of Binondo church and Manila Cathedral, replete with domed ceilings, pendentives or curved triangles that meet the dome and the columns and saints in niches.

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When it listed the building in 1972, the public body cited the Apollo's "richly ornamental shallow domed ceiling on pendentives" as one of its stand-out features.

Apollo Theatre 'was a victim of neglect'

Above the staircase and atrium, a circular faceted dome, within an octagonal frame and supported by four pendentives, dramatically descends from a great height to four columns whose steel-capped capitals terminate at the second level.

Lightness and being: the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

The Central Reception Room boasts a circular ceiling with pendentives, and plasterwork in neoclassical style designed by Francesco Bernasconi.

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It is also very cleverly supported by pendentives, which act as upturned buttresses, bearing the heavy weight and spreading it evenly on the pillars and supporting walls.

Culture: A monument to faith

The dome is supported on four pendentives and by lower semi-domes on each side of the cross's arms.

Materializing authority: the church of Saint Sava in Belgrade and its architectural significance

(106.) In particular, though usually regarded merely as symptomatic of architect Brunelleschi's emulation of Roman architectural forms, the row of nine domed vaults with pendentives capping the renowned facade loggia of the Hospital of the Innocents in Florence (1419-27) may owe something as well to the forms and ideas addressed in this essay insofar as those cupolas tend to isolate each bay from its neighbors.

The canopy of holiness at the Misericordia in Florence and its sources (Part two)