Editing Column (section)

===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>