Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Twisted / spiral column
AKA barley-sugar, salomonica, torso column
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Twisted / spiral column
AKA barley-sugar,
salomonica, torso column
A column so shaped as to present a twisted or spiral form
Twisted columns were inspired by those of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem
Used especially in Baroque architecture.
See also: spiral
Salomónica, ( Spanish: “Solomon-like”) also called barley-sugar column, in architecture, a twisted column, so called because, at the Apostle’s tomb in Old St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, there were similar columns, which, according to legend, had been imported from the Temple of Solomon in ancient Jerusalem. When Gian Lorenzo Bernini worked at New St. Peter’s, he echoed the salomónica design in the columns that supported the baldachin, or canopy, over the altar above the tomb.
The structure, similar in appearance to the twisted stalk of a barley-sugar plant, became popular in Romanesque architecture and the type of Spanish Baroque called Churrigueresque. It is among the most notable characteristics of the work of the three architect brothers of the Churriguera family. Followers of this school continued to imitate José Benito Churriguera’s graceful salomónicas, especially those behind the altar of the church of San Esteban in Salamanca, Spain, well into the 18th century.
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Salomónica (online March 2015)
Examples from Buffalo architecture:
- Illustration above: St. John the Baptist R. C. Church
- Our Lady of Victory Basilica
- 120 Lincoln Pkwy.
- 181 Depew Ave.
- St. Gerard's RC Church
- Genesee Building/Hyatt Regency-Buffalo
- St. John the Evangelist RC Church
Other examples:
- Bernini's baldachino, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Italy
- Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy
- Campanile, Florence, Italy
- Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- St. Nicholas Church, Lesser Town Square (Little Quarter Square), Prague, Czech Republic
- Saint Louis Cathedral, Saint Louis, MO
- Photo - Stained glass , Ariana Swiss Museum of Ceramics and Glass, Geveva, Switzerland
