Glossary · S
Squinch
Also called squinches, trompe
An arch, niche or small conical vault built diagonally across the upper corner of a square room, turning the square into an octagon so that a dome can be set on it. Characteristic of Persian, Armenian, some Byzantine and much Islamic architecture.
See also: Pendentive, Dome
Rules that use the word
The squinch: from square to octagon. Throw an arch diagonally across each upper corner of the square, backed by a small conch or cone; the four squinches and the four walls between them make an octagon, on which a round dome can sit.
Muqarnas: a vault of small niches. Fill a half-dome, squinch or cornice with tiers of small concave cells, each tier corbelled forward from the one below and each cell set over the junction of two cells beneath.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Domes, Byzantium and the Early Church, The Islamic World.
A feature of Byzantine, Persian Islamic (Seljuk, Timurid and Safavid) architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Specus · Spolia · Springer · Springing · Steel frame · Stela · Step rings · Stilted arch