Inarchitecture, asemi-dome (orhalf-dome) is a halfdome that covers a semi-circular area in abuilding.
Semi-domes are a common feature ofapses inAncient Roman and traditional church architecture, and inmosques andiwans inIslamic architecture.
A semi-dome, or the whole apse, may also be called aconch after thescallop shell often carved as decoration of the semi-dome (all shells wereconches inAncient Greek), though this is usually used for subsidiary semi-domes, rather than the one over the main apse.[1] Small semi-domes have been often decorated in a shell shape from ancient times,[2] as inPiero della Francesca'sThroned Madonna with saints and Federigo da Montefeltro,[3] and the example in the gallery below. Islamic examples may usemuqarnas decorative corbelling, while inLate Antique,Byzantine and medievalchurch architecture the semi-dome is the classic location for a focalmosaic, or laterfresco.[4]
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Found in many Ancient Greekexedras, the semi-dome became a common feature of the apse at the end of Ancient Roman secularbasilicas, which was adopted in Early Christian architecture as the commonest shape for churches, becoming the focal point for decoration. In buildings likeHagia Sophia inByzantine architecture, apsidal openings or exhedras from the central nave appear in several directions, not just to the liturgical east.[5] Thetetraconch,triconch andcross-in-square are other typicallyEastern Christian church plans that produce several semi-domes.
When the Byzantine styles were adapted inOttoman architecture, which was even less concerned with maintaining a central axis, a multiplicity of domes and semi-domes becomes the dominating feature of both the internal space and the external appearance of the building. The buildings ofMimar Sinan and his pupilSedefkar Mehmed Agha are the masterpieces of this style.Mihrabs are another common location for semi-domes.
In Western Europe the external appearance of a semi-dome is less often exploited than in Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, and is often disguised as a sloping rather than curved semi-circular roof.[6]
Cincinnati Union Terminal inCincinnati, Ohio features the largest semi-dome in theWestern Hemisphere, measuring 180 feet wide and 106 feet high.[7]
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