Engaged column

An engaged column is an architectural element in which a column is embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, which may or may not carry a partial structural load. Sometimes defined as semi- or three-quarter detached,^[1] engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in abundance, most commonly embedded in the cella walls^[1] of pseudoperipteral Roman temples and other buildings.

In the temples, it is attached to the cella walls, repeating the columns of the peristyle, and in the theatres and amphitheatres, where they subdivided the arched openings: in all these cases engaged columns are utilized as a decorative feature, and as a rule the same proportions are maintained as if they had been isolated columns. In Romanesque work, the classic proportions were no longer adhered to; the engaged column, attached to the piers, has always a special function to perform, either to support subsidiary arches, or, raised to the vault, to carry its transverse or diagonal ribs. The same constructional object is followed in the earlier Gothic styles, in which they become merged into the mouldings. Being virtually always ready made, so far as their design is concerned, they were much affected by the Italian revivalists.^[1]

Gallery

Ancient Egyptian engaged columns of the House of the North, detail of papyrus-shaped capitals, in the Heb-sed court of Djoser's Funerary Complex, Saqqara, Egypt, unknown architect, 2667–2648 BC^[2]
Ancient Egyptian engaged columns in the Heb-sed court of Djoser's Funerary Complex, unknown architect, 2667–2648 BC
Ancient Greek engaged columns on the west façade of the Erechtheion, Athens, Greece, unknown architect, 421–406 BC
Ancient Greek engaged columns on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Athens, Greece, unknown architect, 335/334 BCE
Roman engaged columns on the Temple of Vesta, Rome, Italy, unknown architect, 191 AD
Carolingian engaged columns of the Lorsch Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, unknown architect, c.792–805
Neoclassical engaged columns of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Germany, by Friedrich August Stüler and Johann Heinrich Strack, 1862–1876
Engaged columns on the Beaux Arts facade of the University of Bucharest on Strada Edgar Quinet, Bucharest, Romania, by Nicolae Ghika-Budești, in collaboration with Duiliu Marcu, 1914–1934^[3]
Romanian Revival engaged columns on the C.N. Câmpeanu House on Bulevardul Dacia, Bucharest, by Constantin Nănescu, c.1923^[4]
Engaged Corinthian columns on the Ministry of Internal Affairs Building, Bucharest, by Emil Nădejde, 1938–1941^[5]
Mediterranean Revival engaged columns of the Prof. C.A. Teodorescu House on Bulevardul Eroii Sanitari, Bucharest, Ion Giurgea, 1941^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Engaged Column". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 404–405.
^ Robertson, Hutton (2022). The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View. Thames & Hudson. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-500-02236-8.
^ Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela and Marius Marcu-Lapadat (2017). Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide. Ordinul Arhitecților din România. p. 37. ISBN 978-973-0-23884-6.
^ Woinaroski, Cristina (2013). Istorie urbană, Lotizarea și Parcul Ioanid din București în context european (in Romanian). SIMETRIA. ISBN 978-973-1872-30-8.
^ Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela and Marius Marcu-Lapadat (2017). Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide. Ordinul Arhitecților din România. p. 62. ISBN 978-973-0-23884-6.
^ Ghigeanu, Mădălin (2022). Curentul Mediteraneean în arhitectura interbelică. Vremea. p. 360. ISBN 978-606-081-135-0.

Stierlin, Henri The Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire, TASCHEN, 2002

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[EB1911-1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Engaged Column". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 404–405.

[2] Robertson, Hutton (2022). The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View. Thames & Hudson. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-500-02236-8.

[3] Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela and Marius Marcu-Lapadat (2017). Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide. Ordinul Arhitecților din România. p. 37. ISBN 978-973-0-23884-6.

[4] Woinaroski, Cristina (2013). Istorie urbană, Lotizarea și Parcul Ioanid din București în context european (in Romanian). SIMETRIA. ISBN 978-973-1872-30-8.

[5] Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela and Marius Marcu-Lapadat (2017). Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide. Ordinul Arhitecților din România. p. 62. ISBN 978-973-0-23884-6.

[6] Ghigeanu, Mădălin (2022). Curentul Mediteraneean în arhitectura interbelică. Vremea. p. 360. ISBN 978-606-081-135-0.

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v t e Classical orders and other columns
Greco-Roman orders	Doric Ionic Corinthian Tuscan Composite
Other orders	Aeolic Ammonite Giant Nonce Superposed
Related articles	Caryatid Colonnade Concatenation Coupled column Egyptian column Engaged column Estipite Intercolumniation Knotted column Marian column Persian column Pier Compound pier Pilaster Piloti Pulvino Robot order Solomonic column Stoa Waterleaf

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Engaged column

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