clerestory

clerestory
clerestoried, adj.
/klear"stawr'ee, -stohr'ee/, n., pl. clerestories.
1. Archit. a portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftops and having windows admitting daylight to the interior.
2. a raised construction, as on the roof of a railroad car, having windows or slits for admitting light or air.
Also, clearstory.
[1375-1425; late ME, equiv. to clere CLEAR + story STORY2]

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Windowed wall of a room that rises higher than the surrounding roofs to light the interior space.

In large buildings, where internal walls are far from the outermost walls, the clerestory provides daylight to spaces that otherwise would be dark and windowless. This device was used in Byzantine and early Christian architecture and most highly developed in Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals. As the nave rose much higher than the roofs of the side aisles, its walls could be pierced by a row of windows near the ceiling.

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      in architecture, any fenestrated (windowed) wall of a room that is carried higher than the surrounding roofs to light the interior space. In a large building, where interior walls are far from the structure's exterior walls, this method of lighting otherwise enclosed, windowless spaces became a necessity. One of the earliest uses of the clerestory was in the huge hypostyle hall of King Seti I and Ramses II at the Temple of Amon (1349–1197 BC, Karnak, Egypt), in which the central range of columns, higher than those on either side, permitted clerestories to be built of pierced stone slabs.

      In Roman architecture many great halls were lighted with clerestories. Usually, groined vaults over the central hall allowed large semicircular windows to be built above the side roofs, as in the tepidarium of the Baths of Diocletian (3rd century AD) and the Basilica of Constantine (AD 310–320), both in Rome. This device was used in Byzantine and Early Christian architecture, as exemplified by the clerestory walls under the side arches of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (532–563).

      The clerestory became most highly developed and widely used in the Romanesque and Gothic periods. The Chartres cathedral (1194), for example, has pairs of lancet clerestory windows that are almost as wide as the aisle windows.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Clerestory — • A term formerly applied to any window or traceried opening in a church, e. g. in an aisle, tower, cloister, or screen, but now restricted to the windows in an aisled nave, or to the range of wall in which the high windows are set Catholic… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Clerestory — Clere sto ry (kl[=e]r st[=o] r[y^]), n. Same as {Clearstory}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • clerestory — early 15c., probably from clere clear, in a sense light, lighted (see CLEAR (Cf. clear)), and STORY (Cf. story), though this sense of that word is not otherwise found so early. Originally the upper part of the nave, transepts, and choir of a… …   Etymology dictionary

  • clerestory — (US also clearstory) ► NOUN (pl. clerestories) ▪ the upper part of the nave, choir, and transepts of a large church, incorporating a series of windows which admit light to the central parts of the building. ORIGIN from CLEAR(Cf. ↑clearness) +… …   English terms dictionary

  • clerestory — [klir′stôr΄ē] n. pl. clerestories [ME clerestorie < cler, CLEAR + storie,STORY2] the upper part of a wall, specif. of a church, containing windows for lighting the central part of a lofty room or space …   English World dictionary

  • Clerestory — The church of St Nicolai, Stralsund. The clerestory is the level between the two green roofs. Clerestory (   …   Wikipedia

  • clerestory — UK [ˈklɪə(r)ˌstɔːrɪ] / UK [ˈklɪə(r)stərɪ] / US [ˈklɪrˌstɔrɪ] noun [countable] Word forms clerestory : singular clerestory plural clerestories in architecture, the upper part of the wall of a church, where there is a series of windows …   English dictionary

  • Clerestory — Clearstory Clear sto ry (kl[=e]r st[=o] r[y^]), Clerestory Clere sto ry, n. (Arch.) The upper story of the nave of a church, containing windows, and rising above the aisle roofs. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Clerestory —    The term refers to the row of windows in the upper part of a wall. Clerestories were used by the ancient Romans in their basilicas, baths, and other such structures to bring light into the interior. The Early Christian masters borrowed the… …   Dictionary of Renaissance art

  • clerestory or clearstory —    In architecture, this term (spelled either way) refers to a wall of a building which is raised above an adjoining room, and this section of wall has windows. The walls of the nave in a Christian church are higher than the roof over the side… …   Glossary of Art Terms

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