Greek and Roman Pleasure Buildings : 4 Minerva Medica
Minerva Medica in Rome was built about 270 A.D.. This building formerly the Temple of the Goddess Minerva, is now generally regarded as the Nymphaeum of the Baths of Gallienus. It is an interesting building for two reasons - it is decagonal in plan but has a circular dome, with pendentives (1) and also each angle is buttressed externally which is unusual in Roman architecture. The dome was of concrete ribbed in tiles and large windows on each side of the decagon admitting light to the interior.
(1) A pendentive is an overhanging triangular section of vaulting between the rim of a dome and each adjacent pair of arches that support it.
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