Arcade

Arcade, in architecture, a row of arches, flat or curved, supported on columns, piers, or pilasters, used by architects since ancient Egyptian times. The Romans brought the use of arcades to its most sophisticated level, employing them to support tiers of seats in theaters, as in Rome's semicircular Theater of Marcellus (13 bc), for temple substructures, as in the immense Temple of Fortuna Primigenia (early 1st century bc) in Praeneste (now Palestrina), Italy; and for aqueducts, as in the triple-tiered Pont du Gard (late 1st century bc or early 1st century ad) near Nimes, France. An arcade built against a wall or with its openings filled with masonry is called a blind arcade. See also Architecture; Arch and Vault.