peristyle

Definitions

1. A colonnade surrounding a courtyard, temple, etc., or the yard enclosed by such columns.
2. A porch surrounded by columns.
3. A sacred roofed courtyard with a central pillar (the potomitan), used as a space for voodoo ceremonies, either alone or as an adjunct to an enclosed temple or altar-room.

Equivalents

Examples

“One cannot, for example, see⟳ the Temple of Æsculapius as one stands in the fine open⟳ courtyard as it was intended one should do; the interstices on that side of the peristyle have⟳ been blocked by Venetian Gothic buildings.”

“The peristyle is a roofed structure⟳, open⟳ at the sides, in which most of the ceremonials and dances take⟳ place⟳.”

“Most peristyles in Haiti have⟳ hard-packed dirt floors that can soak⟳ up libations when they're poured on the ground in honor of the spirits.”

CEFR level