Editing Niche (architecture) (section)

==Types==

A '''{{vanchor|blind niche}}''' is a very shallow niche, usually too shallow to contain statues, and may resemble a blind window (a window without openings) or sealed door.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Laurie Schneider |title=Italian Renaissance Art |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-97474-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60daDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA420 |quote=Blind niche: a shallow niche, usually a purely decorative feature of a wall.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Allison Lee |title=Historical Dictionary of Architecture |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-6309-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMsvDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA230 |quote=Blind niches, or niches devoid of sculpture, also function as blind windows that do not open to the outside}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=J. Eric |last2=Decker |first2=Michael |title=Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia |date=2012 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-36106-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpnJK47BE-YC&pg=PA203 |quote=The design must have given the viewer the impression of a monumental hall with many rooms adjoined – the blind niches specifically designed and situated to resemble doors}}</ref> (Compare: [[blind arcade]])

In [[Gothic architecture]], a niche may be set within a [[church tabernacle|tabernacle]] framing, like a richly decorated miniature house (''[[aedicula]]''), such as might serve for a [[reliquary]]. The backings for the altars in churches ([[reredos]]) can be embedded with niches for [[statue]]s.

Though a niche in either Classical or Gothic contexts may be empty and merely provide some articulation and variety to a section of wall, the [[cult (religion)|cult]] origins of the niche suggested that it be filled with a statue.

In the Encyclopedia Methodique, the authors divide niches into different classes. The classes refer to the shape of the plan and the head (top and bottom), the ornamentation, and entablature. They vary according to their characteristics, from simple to extremely ornate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopédie méthodique - Wikisource |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die_m%C3%A9thodique |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=fr.wikisource.org |language=fr}}</ref>