squinch

A squinch in the palace of Ardeshir, near Firouzabad, Iran. Sassanid period.

A squinch in architecture is a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome. It was the primitive solution of this problem, the perfected one being eventually provided by the pendentive. Squinches may be formed by masonry built out from the angle in corbelled courses, by filling the corner with a vise placed diagonally, or by building an arch or a number of corbelled arches diagonally across the corner.

In Islamic architecture, especially in Persia, where it may have been invented, the squinch was often disguised by a succession of corbelled stalactite-like structures known as muqarnas. It was also commonly used in churches of Europe and the East; one such example being the Norman church of San Cataldo in Palermo, Sicily. This twelfth-century church features three domes. Each is supported by four doubled squinches.

This architectural element-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e