Cella

Also called naos

The enclosed inner room of a temple that housed the cult statue. Also called the naos.

Rules that use the word

Columns lean toward the cella. Set the outer columns so that they incline slightly inward, toward the cella wall, the middle columns of the fronts plumb on their own axes and the corner columns leaning both ways.

The round temple and its hemisphere. Set the columns of a round temple on a circle over a stepped base, carry the entablature round the circle, and cover the cella with a dome whose height is half the diameter of the whole.

Where it appears in the book

In the chapters Post and Lintel, Walls and Openings, The Tuscan Order, The Temple, The Classical World.

A feature of Ancient Greek architecture.

Nearby in the glossary

Cavea · Cavetto · Cavetto cornice · Cejiao · Centring · Chadar · Chaitya · Charbagh