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{{Short description|Decorative architectural element giving the appearance of a supporting column}}
{{About||the racehorse| Pilaster (horse)|the building material|Plaster}}
[[File:Paris 06 - St Sulpice int 01.jpg|thumb|250px|Two decorative [[Corinthian architecture|Corinthian]] pilasters in the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Church of Saint-Sulpice]] (Paris)]]
In [[architecture]], a '''pilaster''' is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or [[column]] integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative [[:Category:Architectural elements|element]] in [[classical architecture]] which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an extent of wall. As an ornament it consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a [[Capital (architecture)|capital]] at the top, [[plinth]] (base) at the bottom, and the various other column elements. In contrast to a Classical pilaster, an [[engaged column]] or [[buttress]] can support the structure of a wall and roof above.
In human [[anatomy]], a pilaster is a ridge that extends vertically across the [[femur]], which is unique to [[modern humans]]. Its structural function is unclear.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Fred |last2=Cartmill |first2=Matt |title=The Human Lineage |date=20 September 2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1118211458 |page=601 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X058kYnhxC0C&pg=PT601}}</ref>
==Definition==
A pilaster is foremost a load-bearing architectural element used widely throughout the world and its history where a structural load is carried by a thickened section of wall or column integrated into a wall.
It is also a purely [[Ornament (art)|ornamental]] element used in [[Classical architecture]]. As such it may be defined as a flattened column which has lost its three-dimensional and tactile value.".<ref name=wittLBAP>{{cite journal | journal = Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes | title = Alberti's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture | jstor = 750120 | last = Wittkower | first = Rudolf | volume = 4 | number = 1/2: Oct., 1940 - Jan., 1941 | page = 3 | date = 1940 | publisher = Warburg Institute | location = London | doi = 10.2307/750120 | s2cid = 195049595 }}</ref>
===In Classical architecture===
In discussing [[Leon Battista Alberti]]'s use of pilasters, which Alberti reintroduced into wall-architecture, [[Rudolf Wittkower]] wrote: "The pilaster is the logical transformation of the column for the decoration of a wall.
A pilaster appears with a [[capital (architecture)|capital]].<ref>A useful phrase to identify a section of pilaster without a capital, with only its fluting to identify its relation to a column, is "pilaster strip".</ref> and [[entablature]], also in "low-[[relief]]" or flattened against the wall. Generally, a pilaster often repeats all parts and proportions of an order column; however, unlike it, a pilaster is usually devoid of [[entasis]].
Pilasters often appear on the sides of a door frame or window opening on the [[facade]] of a building, and are sometimes paired with columns or [[Column|pillar]]s set directly in front of them at some distance away from the wall, which support a roof structure above, such as a [[portico]]. These vertical elements can also be used to support a recessed [[archivolt]] around a doorway. The pilaster can be replaced by ornamental [[Bracket (architecture)|brackets]] supporting the entablature or a balcony over a doorway.
When a pilaster appears at the corner intersection of two walls it is known as a '''canton'''.<ref>Ching, Francis D. K. (1995). ''A Visual Dictionary of Architecture''. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. {{ISBN|0-442-02462-2}}, p. 266.</ref>
As with a column, a pilaster can have a plain or fluted surface to its profile and can be represented in the mode of numerous architectural styles. During the [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] and [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] architects used a range of pilaster forms.<ref>{{Citation | title= Pilaster Play|author= Mark Jarzombek|author-link= Mark Jarzombek| journal=  Thresholds | url= http://web.mit.edu/mmj4/www/downloads/thresholds28.pdf | volume= 28 (Winter 2005)| pages=34–41}}</ref> In the [[giant order]] pilasters appear as two storeys tall, linking floors in a single unit.
The fashion of using this decorative element from [[Ancient Greek architecture|ancient Greek]] and [[Ancient Roman architecture|Roman architecture]] was adopted in the [[Italian Renaissance]], gained wide popularity with [[Greek Revival architecture]], and continues to be seen in some modern architecture.
==Gallery==
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px">
Fragment, Pilaster (France) (CH 18169495).jpg|Two fragments of French pilasters, made of oak, in the [[Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum]] (New York City)
Print (Germany) (CH 18244161).jpg|Illustrations of [[Ionic order|Ionic]] pilasters with [[festoon]]s on their capitals, from Germany, in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Print (Germany) (CH 18244365).jpg|Illustrations of [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] pilasters, from Germany, in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Vieux-raisin-decor (3).jpg|Part of a [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] pilaster of the [[Hôtel du Vieux-Raisin]] ([[Toulouse]], France)
File:Strasbourg rJuifs 11d.JPG|Pilaster in [[Strasbourg]] (France), being Renaissance and [[Louis XIV style]] at the same time
Lyon - 20 rue Gasparin - Lion ailé.JPG|A pair of pilasters flanking a door in [[Lyon]] (France)
4 Vynnychenka Street, Lviv (10).jpg|Two pilasters in [[Lviv]], ([[Ukraine]])
6 Zavodska Street, Lviv (04).jpg|Capital of a [[Doric order|Doric]] pilaster from [[Lviv]]
GrottaferrataSNiloIngressoPortalePart1.jpg|Corinthianesque capital of a pilaster from [[Grottaferrata]] (Italy)
File:Colossal order 8 avenue Opera Paris.jpg|[[Colossal order]] of Composite pilasters. 1st and 2nd floors of a 19th-century building, 8 [[avenue de l'Opéra]] (Paris)
1RueStDominique-P7-007.jpg|Two pairs of Ionic pilasters flanking a door in Paris
Hôtel de Castries (Montpeller) - Porta.jpg|A pair of Doric pilasters flanking a door in [[Montpellier]] (France)
Snouck van Loosen - tuinmuur, Enkhuizen 02.jpg|A pair of Doric pilasters flanking a door in [[Enkhuizen]] (the [[Netherlands]])
Noard5 Workum.jpg|House from 1663, decorated with Corinthian pilasters, in [[Workum]] (the Netherlands)
File:Biserica_romano-catolica_din_Sibiu1.jpg|Doric pilasters on the [[Jesuit Church, Sibiu|Jesuit Church]] of [[Sibiu]] ([[Transylvania]], [[Romania]])
2 Place du Caire, Paris (03).jpg|[[Egyptian Revival architecture|Egyptian Revival]] [[hathor]]ic pilaster on the Foire du Caire building (Paris)
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[Glossary of architecture]]
* [[Classical order]]
* [[Lesene]]
* [[Post and lintel]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
* Lewis, Philippa, and Gillian Darley (1986). ''Dictionary of Ornament''.  New York: Pantheon.
==External links==
{{wiktionary | pilaster|position=left}}
{{Commons category|Pilasters|position=left}}
{{classical orders}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Columns and entablature]]