Editing Pilaster (section)

==Definition==
A pilaster is foremost a load-bearing architectural element used widely throughout the world and its history where a structural load is carried by a thickened section of wall or column integrated into a wall.

It is also a purely [[Ornament (art)|ornamental]] element used in [[Classical architecture]]. As such it may be defined as a flattened column which has lost its three-dimensional and tactile value.".<ref name=wittLBAP>{{cite journal | journal = Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes | title = Alberti's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture | jstor = 750120 | last = Wittkower | first = Rudolf | volume = 4 | number = 1/2: Oct., 1940 - Jan., 1941 | page = 3 | date = 1940 | publisher = Warburg Institute | location = London | doi = 10.2307/750120 | s2cid = 195049595 }}</ref>

===In Classical architecture===
In discussing [[Leon Battista Alberti]]'s use of pilasters, which Alberti reintroduced into wall-architecture, [[Rudolf Wittkower]] wrote: "The pilaster is the logical transformation of the column for the decoration of a wall.

A pilaster appears with a [[capital (architecture)|capital]].<ref>A useful phrase to identify a section of pilaster without a capital, with only its fluting to identify its relation to a column, is "pilaster strip".</ref> and [[entablature]], also in "low-[[relief]]" or flattened against the wall. Generally, a pilaster often repeats all parts and proportions of an order column; however, unlike it, a pilaster is usually devoid of [[entasis]].

Pilasters often appear on the sides of a door frame or window opening on the [[facade]] of a building, and are sometimes paired with columns or [[Column|pillar]]s set directly in front of them at some distance away from the wall, which support a roof structure above, such as a [[portico]]. These vertical elements can also be used to support a recessed [[archivolt]] around a doorway. The pilaster can be replaced by ornamental [[Bracket (architecture)|brackets]] supporting the entablature or a balcony over a doorway.

When a pilaster appears at the corner intersection of two walls it is known as a '''canton'''.<ref>Ching, Francis D. K. (1995). ''A Visual Dictionary of Architecture''. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. {{ISBN|0-442-02462-2}}, p. 266.</ref>

As with a column, a pilaster can have a plain or fluted surface to its profile and can be represented in the mode of numerous architectural styles. During the [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] and [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] architects used a range of pilaster forms.<ref>{{Citation | title= Pilaster Play|author= Mark Jarzombek|author-link= Mark Jarzombek| journal=  Thresholds | url= http://web.mit.edu/mmj4/www/downloads/thresholds28.pdf | volume= 28 (Winter 2005)| pages=34–41}}</ref> In the [[giant order]] pilasters appear as two storeys tall, linking floors in a single unit.

The fashion of using this decorative element from [[Ancient Greek architecture|ancient Greek]] and [[Ancient Roman architecture|Roman architecture]] was adopted in the [[Italian Renaissance]], gained wide popularity with [[Greek Revival architecture]], and continues to be seen in some modern architecture.