Colonnade Colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curved. The space enclosed may be covered or open. In St. Peter's Square in Rome, Bernini's great colonnade encloses a vast open elliptical space. When in front of a building, screening the door (Latin "porta"), it is called a portico, when enclosing an open court, a peristyle. A portico may be more than one rank of columns deep, as at
Great Colonnade at Palmyra in a northwest-southeast direction towards the "propylaea" of the Temple of Bel. Work on the colonnade started after the completion of the "propylaea" in 175 CE and continued through the beginning of the third-century CE. This section is the widest of the Great Colonnade with a uniform width of for the main street and for the sidewalks. A corner of the "temenos" of the Temple of Nebu was demolished to allow the colonnade an uninterrupted line of sight towards the Monumental Arch from the west and a wider access to the section leading to the Temple of Bel. A "nymphaeum"