Editing Column (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=July 2021}}
[[File:營造法式六 20.jpg|thumb|Dragon pillar from the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'', [[Song dynasty]]]]

=== Antiquity ===
All significant [[Iron Age]] civilizations of the [[Near East]] and [[Mediterranean]] made some use of columns.

==== Egyptian ====
{{main|Ancient Egyptian architecture#Columns}}
In [[ancient Egyptian architecture]] as early as 2600 BC, the architect [[Imhotep]] made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds, like [[papyrus]], [[Nymphaea|lotus]] and [[Palm tree|palm]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Rosalie |last2=Baker |first2=Charles |date=2001 |title=Ancient Egyptians: People of the Pyramids |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptians0000bake/page/23 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptians0000bake/page/23 23] |isbn=978-0195122213 }}</ref> In later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common. Their form is thought to derive from archaic reed-built shrines. Carved from stone, the columns were highly decorated with carved and painted [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]], texts, ritual imagery and natural motifs. Egyptian columns are famously present in the [[Great Hypostyle Hall]] of Karnak ({{circa|1224 BC}}), where 134 columns are lined up in sixteen rows, with some columns reaching heights of 24 metres.

One of the most important type are the papyriform columns. The origin of these columns goes back to the [[5th Dynasty]]. They are composed of lotus (papyrus) stems which are drawn together into a bundle decorated with bands: the capital, instead of opening out into the shape of a [[Campanula|bellflower]], swells out and then narrows again like a flower in bud. The base, which tapers to take the shape of a half-sphere like the stem of the lotus, has a continuously recurring decoration of stipules.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px" caption="Examples of Egyptian columns">

The grammar of ornament (1868) (14587326250).jpg|Illustration of papyriform capitals, in ''[[The Grammar of Ornament]]''
Lepsius-Projekt tw 1-2-108.jpg|Illustration of various types of capitals, drawn by the egyptologist [[Karl Richard Lepsius]]
Mammisi Philae2.JPG|Columns with [[Hathor]]ic capitals
The double row of columns with papyrus bundle capitals - The Court of Amonhotep III - Luxor Temple (14075179947).jpg|Papyriform columns of the [[Luxor Temple]]
</gallery>

==== Greek and Roman ====
{{see also|Classical order|Minoan civilization#columns}}
{{multiple image
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| caption1 = Illustration of Doric (left three), Ionic (middle three) and Corinthian (right two) columns
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The [[Minoans]] used whole tree-trunks, usually turned upside down in order to prevent re-growth{{Dubious|date=January 2024}}, stood on a base set in the stylobate (floor base) and topped by a simple round capital. These were then painted as in the most famous [[Minoan palace]] of [[Knossos]]. The Minoans employed columns to create large open-plan spaces, light-wells and as a focal point for religious rituals.

These traditions were continued by the later [[Mycenaean civilization]], particularly in the megaron or hall at the heart of their palaces. The importance of columns and their reference to palaces and therefore authority is evidenced in their use in heraldic motifs such as the famous lion-gate of [[Mycenae]] where two lions stand each side of a column. Being made of wood these early columns have not survived, but their stone bases have and through these we may see their use and arrangement in these palace buildings.

The Egyptians, Persians and other civilizations mostly used columns for the practical purpose of holding up the roof inside a building, preferring outside walls to be decorated with [[relief]]s or painting, but the Ancient Greeks, followed by the Romans, loved to use them on the outside as well, and the extensive use of columns on the interior and exterior of buildings is one of the most characteristic features of classical architecture, in buildings like the [[Parthenon]].  The Greeks developed the [[#Classical orders|classical orders]] of architecture, which are most easily distinguished by the form of the column and its various elements.  Their [[Doric order|Doric]], [[Ionic order|Ionic]], and [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] orders were expanded by the Romans to include the [[Tuscan order|Tuscan]] and [[Composite order|Composite]] orders.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:Knossos 03.JPG|Minoan columns at the West Bastion of the Palace of [[Knossos]]
File:EB1911 Capital Fig. 5 Early Greek Capital from the Tomb of Agamemnon, Mycenae.jpg|Illustration of the end of a Mycenaean column, from the [[Tomb of Agamemnon]]
File:Fotothek df tg 0001022 Architektur ^ Säule ^ dorische Ordnung ^ Brücke.jpg|Illustration of the [[Tuscan order]]
File:DoricParthenon.jpg|Illustration of the [[Doric order]]
File:Ionic Order from “Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce” p197.jpg|Illustration of the [[Ionic order]]
File:Evolution of the Corinthian Capital 138.jpg|Evolution of the [[Corinthian order]]
File:Fotothek df tg 0001039 Architektur ^ Säule ^ komposite Ordnung.jpg|Illustration of the [[Composite order]]
File:Femme en priere entre deux colonnes ioniques - Louvre.jpg|Praying Woman between two ionic columns, 2nd century, marble, in the [[Louvre]]
</gallery>

==== Persian ====
{{main|Persian column}}
[[File:Persepolis Colonne flandin.jpg|thumb|upright|Plan, front view and side view of a typical [[Persepolis]] column, of [[Iran|Persia (Iran)]]]]
Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of the [[Persia]]ns, especially the massive stone columns erected in [[Persepolis]]. They included double-bull structures in their [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]]. [[Apadana|The Hall of Hundred Columns]] at Persepolis, measuring 70&nbsp;× 70 metres, was built by the [[Achaemenid]] king [[Darius the Great of Persia|Darius I]] (524–486 BC). Many of the ancient [[Persian column]]s are standing, some being more than 30 metres tall.{{citation needed|date=July 2010}} Tall columns with bull's head capitals were used for porticoes and to support the roofs of the hypostylehall, partly inspired by the ancient Egyptian precedent. Since the columns carried timber beams rather than stone, they could be taller, slimmer and more widely spaced than Egyptian ones.

==== South Asia ====
[[File:Ahin Posh stupa reconstitution, Simpson 1878.jpg|thumb]]
[[Indo-Corinthian capital|Indo-Corinthian capitals]] are [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]] crowning [[Column|'''columns''']] or [[Pilaster|pilasters]], which can be found in the northwestern [[Indian subcontinent]], and usually combine [[Classical architecture|Hellenistic]] and [[Indian architecture|Indian]] elements. These capitals are typically dated to the first centuries of the [[Common Era]], and constitute an important aspect of [[Greco-Buddhist art]]. ndo-Corinthian capitals display a design and foliage structure which is derived from the academic [[Corinthian order|Corinthian capital]] developed in Greece. Its importation to India followed the road of Hellenistic expansion in the East in the centuries after the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]]. In particular the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]], centered on [[Bactria]] (today's northern [[Afghanistan]]), upheld the type at the doorstep of India, in such places as [[Ai-Khanoum]] until the end of the 2nd century BCE. In India, the design was often adapted, usually taking a more elongated form and sometimes being combined with scrolls, generally within the context of Buddhist [[Stupa|stupas]] and temples.<ref name="EE156">{{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3355036 |title=Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan: Explorations, Excavations, Collections 1832–1835 |date=2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=156–159}}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
{{main|Medieval architecture}}
Columns, or at least large structural exterior ones, became much less significant in the architecture of the [[Middle Ages]]. The classical forms were abandoned in both [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] and [[Romanesque architecture]] in favour of more flexible forms, with capitals often using various types of foliage decoration, and in the West scenes with figures carved in [[relief]].

During the Romanesque period, builders continued to reuse and imitate ancient Roman columns wherever possible; where new, the emphasis was on elegance and beauty, as illustrated by twisted columns. Often they were decorated with mosaics.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px" caption="Examples of columns">

SantApollinare Nuovo Pulpito marmoreo.jpg|Byzantine columns from [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]] ([[Ravenna]], Italy)
Hagia_Sophia_(15468276434).jpg|The capital of a Byzantine column from [[Hagia Sophia]] ([[Istanbul]], Turkey)
Igreja de São Tiago, Coimbra. Capiteis y colunelos.jpg|Romanesque columns from the 12th century
Neuwiller StPierre-Paul 117.JPG|Gothic columns of a church from [[Neuwiller-lès-Saverne]] (France)
File:Gelnhausen, Marienkirche, Südportal-20160804-007.jpg|Slender Gothic columns at a portal of {{Interlanguage link|Marienkirche Gelnhausen|de|Marienkirche (Gelnhausen)}} ([[Gelnhausen]], Germany)
File:20131204_Istanbul_085.jpg|Column use is common in [[Ottoman architecture]], an example in [[Topkapı Palace]] ([[Istanbul]], Turkey)
</gallery>

===Renaissance and later styles===
[[Renaissance architecture]] was keen to revive the classical vocabulary and styles, and the informed use and variation of the classical orders remained fundamental to the training of architects throughout [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]], [[Rococo]] and [[Neo-classical architecture]].