Pedestal
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/68.44.92.251|68.44.92.251]] to last version by Mdebets (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
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[[Image:Statue Henri IV Pont Neuf.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[Henry IV of France]] on a pedestal]]
'''Pedestal''' (from French ''piedestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'', foot of a stall) is a term generally applied to the support of a [[statue]] or a [[vase]].
Although in [[Syria]], [[Asia Minor]] and [[Tunisia]] the Romans occasionally raised the columns of their temples or propylaea on square pedestals, in [[Rome]] itself they were employed only to give greater importance to isolated columns, such as those of [[Trajan's Column|Trajan]] and [[Antoninus Pius|Antoninus]], or as a [[podium]] to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.
The architects of the [[Renaissance|Italian revival]], however, conceived the idea that no order was complete without a pedestal, and as the orders were by them employed to divide up and decorate a building in several stories, the cornice of the pedestal was carried through and formed the sills of their windows, or, in open arcades, round a court, the [[balustrade]] of the [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]]. They also would seem to have considered that the height of the pedestal should correspond in its proportion with that of the column or [[pilaster]] it supported; thus in the church of Saint John Lateran, where the applied order is of considerable dimensions, the pedestal is 13 feet high instead of the ordinary height of 3 to 5 feet.
==Types of pedestals==
An elevated pedestal or plinth which bears a statue and which is raised from the substructure supporting it (typically roofs or corniches) is sometimes called an '''acropodium'''. The term is from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''akros'' or topmost + ''podos'' or foot.
==References==
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{1911}}
[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Sculpture terms]]
[[ca:Pedestal]]
[[de:Postament]]
[[es:Pedestal]]
[[fr:Piédestal]]
[[it:Piedistallo]]
[[nl:Sokkel]]
[[ru:Пьедестал]]
[[sv:Postament]]