Parterre

parterre

1. a formally patterned flower garden

2. Brit Irish the pit in a theatre

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

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 It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Parterre

 

in landscaping, an ornamental garden with lawns, flower beds, bodies of water, and hedges. A parterre is often decorated with sculptures, fountains, lawns framed by shrubs, and trees. In a formal park, the parterres are divided into plots of regular shape and are trimmed with box shrubs, colored sand, crushed brick, or coal. Parterres are less regular in landscape parks, usually having the appearance of lawns. Twentieth-century parterres have usually consisted of flower beds divided by paved paths.

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Parterre

 

the part of the floor of a theater or concert hall, usually rising from the stage to the back rows, with seats for the spectators. The parterre of ancient Roman theaters was a central semicircular platform with rows of seats. Parterres surrounded by tiers of loges appeared in Italy at the beginning of the 17th century. (Such parterres initially were for the lower classes and had no seats.)

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

parquet circle, orchestra circle, parterre

In a theater or opera house, the part of the main floor at the rear of the parquet, 3, usually under the galleries or balconies.

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parterre

1. See parquet circle.

2. An ornamental arrangement of flower or gravel beds of various sizes and shapes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.