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In architecture, a squinch is a structural element used to support the base of a circular or octagonal dome that surmounts a square-plan chamber. Squinches are placed to diagonally span each upper corner where the walls meet. Constructed from masonry, they have several forms, including: a graduated series of stepped arches; a hollow, open half-cone (like a funnel) laid horizontally; or a small half-dome niche. They are designed to spread the load of a dome to the intersecting walls on which they are built. By bridging corners, they also visually transition an angular space to a round or near-circular zone.

Squinches originated in the Sassanid Empire of Ancient Persia, remaining in use across Central and West Asia into modern times. From its pre-Islamic origin, it developed into an influential structure for Islamic architecture. Georgia and Armenia also inherited the form from the Sassanids, where squinches were widely employed in buildings of all kinds. They are heavily featured in surviving or ruined medieval Christian churches of the region. An alternative approach to the structural problem of translating square space to round superstructure is the pendentive, much used in late Roman Empire and Byzantine architecture. Domes built in the Roman-influenced world utilised separately-evolved construction methods.

History

Middle East

The dome chamber in the Palace of Ardashir, the Sassanid king, in Firuzabad, Iran, is the earliest surviving example of the use of the squinch. After the rise of Islam, it remained a feature of Islamic architecture, especially in Iran, and was often covered by corbelled stalactite-like structures known as muqarnas. It was used in the Middle East and in eastern Romanesque architecture, although pendentives are more common in Byzantine architecture. The Hagia Sophia features both squinches and pendentives, in combination.

Western Europe

It spread to the Romanesque architecture of western Europe, one example being the Normans' 12th-century church of San Cataldo, Palermo, in Sicily. This has three domes, each supported by four doubled squinches.

Etymology

The word may possibly originate, the Oxford English Dictionary suggests, from the French word escoinson, meaning "from an angle", which became the English word "scuncheon" and then "scunch".

See also

• History of Persian domes
• History of early and simple domes
• History of Roman and Byzantine domes
• Splayed arch, an arch with conical intrados

References

1. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1986, p. 1145
2. ^
   • Cresswell, K. A. C. (January 1915). "Persian Domes Before 1400 AD". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. Vol. 26, no. 142. London: Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd. pp. 146–155. JSTOR 859853.
   • Cresswell, K. A. C. (February 1915). "Persian Domes Before 1400 AD: Conclusion". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. Vol. 26, no. 143. London: Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd. pp. 208–213. JSTOR 859962.
3. Labisi, Giuseppe (2 July 2020). "Squinches and Semi-domes between the Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods". Iran. 58 (2): 236–249. doi:10.1080/05786967.2019.1633241.
4. ^ O'Kane, Bernard (15 December 1995) . "Domes". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. VII (Online ed.). Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. Fasc. 5, pp. 479–485.
5. Khoshtaria, David (2015). The Squinch in the Architecture of the Caucasus. Against Gravity: Building Practices in the Pre-industrial World.
6. Kula, Seda (January 2012). A Survey and Forms Catalogue for Dome and Transitional Element Usage in the Early Ottoman Architecture. Domes in the World Congress, Florence March 2012.
7. ^ Huff, D. (15 December 1986) . "Architecture iii. Sasanian Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. II (Online ed.). Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. Fasc. 3, pp. 329–334.
8. Golzari, Elaheh; Rabb, Péter (26 September 2022). "Revisiting the Geometry of the Transition Zone Using Filposh Squinches in Ardeshir Palace". Építés - Építészettudomány. 50 (3–4): 351–364. doi:10.1556/096.2022.00079. ISSN 1588-2764.
9. • "squinch (1) noun". Oxford Living Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
   • "squinch, noun (Architecture)". Dictionary.com. 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.

Further reading

• Bier, Lionel (1986). Sarvistan: A study in early Iranian architecture. College Art Association of America by Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-271-00416-7.
• "Palace of Ardashir". Madain Project. Abrahamic History & Archaeology.

External links

• Media related to Squinches at Wikimedia Commons

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