Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

vault

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Vaults vault, ceiling over a room, formed in any one of a variety of curved shapes. The architects of the Renaissance and baroque periods abandoned Gothic methods and returned to Roman vault...

Abbott, Edwin Abbott

(Encyclopedia)Abbott, Edwin Abbott, 1838–1926, English clergyman and author, b. London. He wrote several theological works and a biography (1885) of Francis Bacon, but he is best known for his standard Shakespear...

Baily, Edward Hodges

(Encyclopedia)Baily, Edward Hodges, 1788–1867, English sculptor. He studied under Flaxman. One of his best works is the statue of Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square, London. Other works include decorations for Bu...

Saint Martin-in-the-Fields

(Encyclopedia)Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, church in London, England, on Trafalgar Square; built 1721–26 by James Gibbs. It has a Corinthian portico and elaborate spire. It is the prototype for many colonial churc...

apse

(Encyclopedia)apse, the termination at the sanctuary end of a church, generally semicircular in plan but sometimes square or polygonal. The apse appeared early in Roman temples and basilicas; it was originally a se...

Madison Avenue

(Encyclopedia)Madison Avenue, celebrated street of Manhattan, borough of New York City. It runs from Madison Square (23d St.) to the Madison Bridge over the Harlem River (138th St.). In the 1940s and 50s, some of t...

Richardson, Henry Hobson

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Henry Hobson, 1838–86, American architect, b. St. James parish, La., grad. Harvard, 1859, studied at the École des Beaux-Arts; great-grandson of Joseph Priestley. He was a major represe...

number

(Encyclopedia)number, entity describing the magnitude or position of a mathematical object or extensions of these concepts. A real or complex number z is called algebraic if it is the root of a polynomial equati...

Datia

(Encyclopedia)Datia dŭˈtēä [key], town, Madhya Pradesh state, N central India. It is a district adminis...

District of Columbia, University of the

(Encyclopedia)District of Columbia, University of the, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; land-grant and federally supported; est. 1976 with the merger of three existing colleges; predominantly African American. I...