Oriel window

Oriel windows inKłodzko,Poland.

Anoriel windowis a form ofbay windowwhich protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground.Supported bycorbels,brackets,or similarcantilevers,an oriel window generally projects from an upper floor, but is also sometimes used on the ground floor.

Oriel windows are seen inArab architecturein the form ofmashrabiyaand in Turkish are known asşahnişinorcumba.InIslamic culture,these windows and balconies project from the street-front of a house, providing an area in which women could peer out and see the activities below while remaining invisible.

Origins

According to theOxford English Dictionary,the termorielis derived fromAnglo-NormanoriellandLate Latinoriolum,both meaning "gallery" or "porch", perhaps fromClassical Latinaulaeum( "curtain" ).

• Oriel College, Oxford,took its name from a balcony or oriel window forming a feature of a building which occupied the site the college now stands on.
• Oriel ChambersinLiverpoolwas a very controversial building when it was built, featuring an entire façade of glass oriel windows.

Gallery

• 
  A 15th-century oriel window atBarnard CastleinCounty Durham,England.
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  Oriel windows inSan Francisco,California,USA
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  16th-century oriel window in theCity of London,Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great
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  19th-centuryneo-gothicoriel window onBradford City Hall
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  Oriel window located inGrande Île, Strasbourg
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  Ground-floor oriel window, Perssonska gården,Hedemora,Sweden
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  Oriel Chambers,Liverpool,byPeter Ellis,1864
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  Massive half timbered oriel window on a pre-1581 house,Bouxwiller, Bas-Rhin,Alsace, France
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  Massive oriel window of District Office inŚwidwin,Poland
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  Oriel windows with brackets inOloron-Sainte-Marie,France

See also

• Bay windowfor more details
• Bow window
• Bretèche
• Turretwindow

External links

• Media related toOriel windowsat Wikimedia Commons
• Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Oriel".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.