colonnade, a row of columns usually supporting a roof. Colonnades were popular with the Greeks and Romans, who employed them in the stoa and the portico; they have continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and modern times. See column.

Row of columns generally supporting an entablature, used either as an independent feature (e.g., a covered walkway) or as part of a building (e.g., a portico). The earliest colonnades appear in the temple architecture of ancient Greece. In a basilica, colonnades are used to separate the side aisles from the central space. Seealso stoa.

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