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Ancient Caryatid a Beautiful Architectural Element
4 min readOct 13, 2020
And the Atlantes… used as construction parts.
Caryatid… Part figurative female sculpture and part architectural element.
The caryatid has helped creatively and artistically support the weight of buildings for thousands of years.
They were popular in Ancient Greece, their place of origin.
Caryatid blurs the line between art and architecture.
A caryatid is a supportive architectural element. And also an ancient construction element.
It’s mostly an sculpted female figure that serves as a pillar. And a decorative column.
A traditional caryatid has a capital, the top of a column, on her head.
Atlantid or Atlas
In European architectural sculpture, an atlas, also known as an atlant, or atlante or atlantid. It’s a support sculpted piece in the form of a man, that can be a column, or a pilaster.
The Roman term for such a sculptural support is a telamon.
