Editing Aedicula

{{Short description|Small shrine in ancient Roman religion}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Niche-shaped aedicula.jpg|thumb|Classical ''aedicula'' shrine from [[Marsala|Lilybaeum]], with sign of [[Baal Hammon]], [[Sign of Tanit|signs of Tanit]] and [[caduceus]]]]
In [[religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], an '''''aedicula''''' ({{plural form}}: '''''aediculae'''''){{Efn|Also: "'''''ædicule'''''" ({{plural form}}: '''''ædiculæ''''')|name=|group=}} is a small [[shrine]], and in [[classical architecture]] refers to a [[Niche (architecture)|niche]] covered by a [[pediment]] or [[entablature]] supported by a pair of [[column]]s and typically framing a [[statue]],<ref name=":0">"aedicula, n." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, September 2020, [https://Www.oed.com/view/Entry/3077 www.oed.com/view/Entry/3077]. Accessed 29 September 2020.</ref><ref name=":1">"aedicule, n." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, September 2020, [https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/3079 www.oed.com/view/Entry/3079]. Accessed 29 September 2020</ref> the early Christian ones sometimes contained funeral urns.{{sfn|Murray|Murray|1998}} ''Aediculae'' are also represented in art as a form of ornamentation.

The word ''aedicula'' is the [[diminutive]] of the [[Latin]] ''[[aedes (Roman)|aedes]]'', a temple building or dwelling place.<ref name=":0" /> The Latin word has been [[Anglicisation of names|anglicised]] as "'''aedicule'''" and as "'''edicule'''".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />  Describing post-antique architecture, especially [[Renaissance architecture]], aedicular forms may be described using the word [[tabernacle]], as in '''tabernacle window'''.

== Classical ''aediculae'' ==
Many ''aediculae'' were household [[shrine]]s (''[[Lares#Lararia|lararia]]'') that held small [[altar]]s or statues of the [[Lares]] and [[Di Penates]].<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Aedicula|volume=1|page=244}}</ref> The Lares were [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman deities]] protecting the house and the family household gods. The Penates were originally [[Tutelary deity|patron gods]] (really [[genius (mythology)|''genii'']]) of the storeroom, later becoming household gods guarding the entire house.

Other ''aediculae'' were small shrines within larger [[temple]]s, usually set on a base, surmounted by a pediment and surrounded by columns. In [[ancient Roman architecture]] the ''aedicula'' has this representative function in the society. They are installed in public buildings like the [[triumphal arch]], [[city gate]], and [[thermae]]. The [[Library of Celsus]] in [[Ephesus]] ({{circa|2}} AD) is a good example.

From the 4th century Christianization of the [[Roman Empire]] onwards such shrines, or the framework enclosing them, are often called by the Biblical term [[tabernacle]], which becomes extended to any elaborated framework for a niche, window or picture.<gallery>
File:Pantheon11111.jpg|''Aediculae'' in the [[Pantheon, Rome]]
File:Wall painting - Athena in aedicula and snake at altar - Gragnano Carmiano (villa A) - Pompeii PAAnt 63688 - 01.jpg|''Aedicula'' containing a painted [[Athena]] and [[Agathodaemon]]
File:Montemartini - tempio di Apollo Sosiano edicola 1030469.JPG|1st century BC interior ''aedicula'' from the [[Temple of Apollo Sosianus]], Rome<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fullerton|first1=Mark D.|title=Art & Archaeology of The Roman World|date=2020|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-051931|page=124|language=en}}</ref>
File:Herculaneum-Palestra.jpg|Painted ''aediculae'' in a [[fresco]] from the ''[[palaestra]]'' of [[Herculaneum]]
File:DSC00097 - Edicola funebre greco-punica da Marsala - Foto G. Dall'Orto.jpg|Graeco-Punic funerary ''aedicula'' from [[Marsala]], with [[Sign of Tanit|signs of Tanit]] and [[caduceus]]
File:Painted stucco relief - architecture with aedicula and pictures - Pompeii (VI 9 2) - Napoli MAN 9596.jpg|''Aediculae'' and figures painted on [[stucco]] from [[Pompeii]]
</gallery>

==Gothic ''aediculae''==
[[File:Cathedral of exeter.jpg|thumb|Gothic [[façade]] of [[Exeter Cathedral]], with rows of figures in ''aediculae'' or tabernacle frames above the door, and two above the [[Battlement|crenellations]]]]
In [[Gothic architecture]], too, an ''aedicula'' or tabernacle is a structural framing device that gives importance to its contents, whether an inscribed plaque, a [[Cult image|cult object]], a bust or the like, by assuming the tectonic vocabulary of a little building that sets it apart from the wall against which it is placed. A tabernacle frame on a wall serves similar hieratic functions as a free-standing, three-dimensional architectural [[Baldachin|baldaquin]] or a [[Ciborium (architecture)|ciborium]] over an [[altar]].

In Late Gothic settings, [[altarpiece]]s and [[Cult image|devotional images]] were customarily crowned with [[gable]]s and canopies supported by clustered-column piers, echoing in small the architecture of Gothic churches. Painted ''aediculae'' frame figures from sacred history in initial letters of [[illuminated manuscript]]s.

==Renaissance ''aediculae''==

Classicizing architectonic structure and décor ''all'antica'', in the "ancient [Roman] mode", became a fashionable way to frame a painted or bas-relief portrait, or protect an expensive and precious mirror<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fram/ho_1975.1.1638.htm Metropolitan Museum: tabernacle frame, Florence, ca 1510]</ref> during the [[High Renaissance]]; Italian precedents were imitated in France, then in Spain, England and Germany during the later 16th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/tabernacleinfo.shtm |title=National Gallery of Art: Tabernacle frames from the Samuel H. Kress collection |access-date=2009-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006235453/http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/tabernacleinfo.shtm |archive-date=2009-10-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Skerton Bridge, Lancaster, England - aedicula detail.JPG|thumb|Late 18th-century Doric ''aedicula'' on [[Skerton Bridge]], [[Lancaster, Lancashire]]]]

==Post-Renaissance classicism==
Aedicular door surrounds that are architecturally treated, with [[pilaster]]s or columns flanking the doorway and an entablature even with a pediment over it came into use with the 16th century. In the [[Palladian architecture#Neo-Palladianism|neo-Palladian]] revival in Britain, architectonic aedicular or tabernacle frames, carved and gilded, are favourite schemes for English [[Palladian architecture|Palladian]] mirror frames of the late 1720s through the 1740s, by such designers as [[William Kent]].

''Aediculae'' feature prominently in the arrangement of the [[Saint Peter's tomb]] with statues by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Bernini]]; a small ''aedicula'' directly underneath it, dated ca. 160 AD,<ref>O'Callaghan, Roger T. "Vatican Excavations and the Tomb of Peter." The Biblical Archaeologist 16.4 (1953): 70-87.</ref> was discovered in 1940.{{sfn|Murray|Murray|1998}}

==Other ''aediculae''==
[[File:Canon outside the entrance to Rashtrapati Bhawan, Delhi (cropped to highlight aedicule).jpg|thumb|One of [[Edwin Lutyens|Lutyens]]' sun shade aediculae for cavalry guards around the [[Viceroy's House]], [[Lutyens' Delhi|New Delhi]]|alt=An iron fence interspersed with stone columns. Alongside the column is a gateway-like red sandstone aedicule with a barrel-vaulted roof. They are tall enough to provide shade for a soldier on horseback.]]
Similar small shrines, called ''[[naiskos|naiskoi]]'', are found in [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek religion]], but their use was strictly religious.

''Aediculae'' exist today in Roman [[Cemetery|cemeteries]] as a part of funeral architecture.

Presently the most famous ''aediculae'' is situated inside the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in city of [[Jerusalem]].

Contemporary American architect [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1925–1993) used the concept of ''aediculae'' in his work to create spaces within spaces and to evoke the spiritual significance of the home.

[[Edwin Lutyens|Lutyens]] provided aediculae in the fence around the [[Viceroy's House]], [[Lutyens' Delhi|New Delhi]] to provide shade for mounted cavalry guards.<ref >{{Cite book
  |title=Edwin Lutyens – Architect Laureate
  |first=Roderick  |last=Gradidge
  |author-link=Roderick Gradidge
  |year=1981
  |isbn=0047200235
  |publisher=George Allen & Unwin
  |page=146
}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Portico]]
* Similar, but free-standing structures:
** [[Ciborium (architecture)|Ciborium]]
** [[Baldachin]]
** [[Monopteros]]
** [[Gazebo]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Adkins, Lesley & Adkins, Roy A. (1996). ''Dictionary of Roman Religion''. Facts on File, inc. {{ISBN|0-8160-3005-7}}.
* {{cite book | first1 = Peter |last1=Murray | first2 = Linda |last2=Murray | date = 1998 | title = The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture | publisher = Oxford University Press | chapter=aedicule | pages = 5 | isbn = 978-0-19-860216-3 | oclc = 1055176997 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qve7QgAACAAJ}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121209015026/http://www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/glossary/aedicule.html Conservation glossary]

[[Category:Ancient Roman temples]]
[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman architectural elements]]