candelabra

Three-branched brass candelabrum without candles.

"Candelabra" is the traditional term for a set of multiple decorative candlesticks, each of which often holds a candle on each of multiple arms or branches connected to a column or pedestal. A single member of such a set is known as a candelabrum.

Although the electrification of interior lighting has relegated candleholders to the status of backup light sources in most homes and other buildings of the modern era, interior designers continue to model light fixtures and lighting accessories after candelabra and candlesticks. Accordingly, the term "candelabra" has entered common use as a collective designation for small-based incandescent light bulbs used in chandeliers and other lighting fixtures designed to provide decoration as well as illumination.

A special kind of candelabrum is the Jewish menorah.

In the United States and Canada, the plural term candelabra is a nickname for radio masts and towers with multiple transmission antennae. Baltimore's TV stations, WMAR-TV, WBAL-TV, and WJZ-TV in 1959 built the world's first three-antenna candelabra tower, 730 feet tall. Other examples include the Mont Royal Candelabra in Montréal, Québec, the KXTV/KOVR/KCRA Tower, KSMO Candelabra Tower, and KMBC/KCWE Candelabra Tower.

See also

• Candlestick
• Chandelier
• Julleuchter
• Menorah
• Radio masts and towers

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Candelabras

• Candelabra.org

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