Arcade (architecture)

For other uses, see Arcade.

Arcades inside the Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan, located in Kairouan, Tunisia.

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians.

A blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall. Blind arcades are a feature of Romanesque architecture that was taken into Gothic architecture.

History

Gallery with arcades on High Medieval square in Metz, France.

Blind arcade on the exterior apse of the church of Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, France.

An arcade often surrounds part or all of a town square in Mediterranean climate cultures, such as in Italian architecture, Spanish architecture, Moorish architecture, Arabic architecture, Colonial architecture; and subsequent Mission Revival style architecture, Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture, and many other original and revival styles around the world.

In Gothic architecture, the arcade can be located in the interior, in the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory in a cathedral, or on the exterior, in which they are usually part of the walkways that surround the courtyard and cloisters.

Modern arcade walkways often include retailers.

Notable arcades

The Cleveland Arcade in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, built 1890

Arcades inside the Bonne-Espérance Abbey.

• Mosque of Uqba, Kairouan, Tunisia
• Burlington Arcade, London
• Cleveland Arcade, Cleveland, Ohio
• Dayton Arcade, Dayton, Ohio
• Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels
• Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan
• GUM, Moscow
• Çiçek Pasajı, Istanbul
• Galleria Umberto I, Naples
• Great Mosque of Córdoba
• List of shopping arcades in Cardiff, Cardiff
• Mission San Fernando Rey de España - Architecture of the California missions, U.S..
• Melbourne Block Arcade, Australia
• Nashville Arcade, Nashville, Tennessee
• Old Bank Arcade, Wellington, New Zealand
• Paddock Arcade, Watertown, New York
• Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda, Aragon Autonomous Community, Spain
• Royal Arcade, Melbourne, Australia
• Silver Arcade Silver Arcade, Leicester, UK
• The Strand Arcade Sydney N.S.W., Australia
• The Passage St. Petersburg
• Victoria Quarter, Leeds
• Westminster Arcade, Providence, Rhode Island

See also

• Aqueduct
• Roman aqueduct
• Stoa