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 Apamea Great Colonnade at Apamea The Great Colonnade at Apamea was the main colonnaded avenue of the ancient city of Apamea in the Orontes River valley in northwestern Syria. It was built in the second century CE after Apamea's devastation in the 115 earthquake. The avenue, which runs for nearly , made up the city's north-south axis, or the "cardo maximus". The monumental colonnade is among the longest and most famous in the Roman world. The original Hellenistic colonnade was devastated, along with the rest of Apamea, in the 115 earthquake. Reconstruction started immediately under the Romans, and over the course