Conch
June 8, 2009 by blogtopia
Filed under Definitions
Conch is a semi-dome, also called a "half-dome", is the term in architecture for half a dome ("cut" vertically), used to cover a semi-circular area. Similar structures occur in nature. Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and mosques and iwans in Islamic architecture.
Conch, or the whole apse after the scallop shell often carved as decoration of the semi-dome (all shells were conches in Ancient Greek), though this is usually used for subsidiary semi-domes, rather than the one over the main apse. Small semi-domes have been often decorated in a shell shape from ancient times, as in Piero della Francesca’s Throned Madonna with saints and Federigo da Montefeltro, and the example in the gallery below.
Islamic examples may use muqarnas decorative corbelling, while in Late Antique, Byzantine and medieval church architecture the semi-dome is the classic location for a focal mosaic, or later fresco.
Source: Wikipedia
Tags: Architectural term, Conch