Glossary

Apse - a projection of a church building (usually semicircular in shape), housing the chancel.

Capital - the top part of a column or pilaster.

Concha - the half dome covering an apse.

Corinthian capital - a bell-shaped capital decorated with a design of acanthus leaves and volutes.

Deesis (Gr. "prayer") - the name of a composition showing Our Lord enthroned with the Mother of God standing in prayer before the Saviour on His right and St John the Baptist on His left.

Drum - the circular wall supporting a dome.

Kokoshnik (pl. kokoshniki) - a gable with the top often made in the shape of a pointed arch,the decorative variety of zakomara.

Grafya - the outline of a fresco painting scratched with a sharp stylus nail into wet plaster.

Pendentive - one of the triangular pieces of vaulting springing from the corners of a rectangular area, serving to support the drum of a dome.

Pilaster - a rectangular support or pier projecting partially from a wall and treated architecturally as a column, with a base, shaft, and capital.

Pridel - a room in a church, set apart for special services and having its own altar, a side chapel.

Relieving arch - an auxiliary arch supporting a vault, dome, or wall.

Volute - a decorative spiral scroll.

Zakomara (pl. zakomary) - a semicircular gable topping a section of the wall in old Russian churches.