Editing Fleur-de-lis (section)

===Architecture and design===
[[File:Fence, Buckingham Palace London April 2006 077.jpg|thumb|''Fleurs-de-lis'' on railings at [[Buckingham Palace]]]]

Architects and designers use it alone and as a repeated [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]] in a wide range of contexts, from [[ironwork]] to bookbinding.

In building and architecture, the ''fleur-de-lis'' is often placed on top of iron fence posts, as a pointed defence against intruders. It may ornament any tip, point or post with a decorative flourish, for instance, on [[finial]]s, the arms of a cross, or the point of a [[gable]]. The ''fleur-de-lis'' can be incorporated in friezes or cornices, although the distinctions between ''fleur-de-lis'', fleuron, and other stylized flowers are not always clear,<ref name="architecture_dictionnaire_flore" /><ref>[[s:fr:Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle – Tome 5, Flore|Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle – Tome 5, Flore]]</ref> or can be used as a motif in an all-over tiled pattern, perhaps on a floor.
It may appear in a building for heraldic reasons, as in some English churches where the design paid a compliment to a local lord who used the flower on his coat of arms. Elsewhere the effect seems purely visual, like the [[crenellation]]s on the 14th-century Muslim [[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan]].
It can also be seen on the doors of the 16th-century Hindu [[Padmanabhaswamy Temple]].