What is "exedra"

Exedra \Ex"e*dra\ ([e^]ks"[-e]*dr[.a]), n.; pl. Exedr[ae] ([e^]ks"[-e]*dr[=e]). [L., fr. Gr 'exe`dra; 'ex out + "e`dra seat.]

1. (Class. Antiq.) A room in a public building, furnished with seats.

2. (Arch.)

   1. The projection of any part of a building in a rounded form.

   2. Any out-of-door seat in stone, large enough for several persons; esp., one of curved form.

n. 1 (context architecture English) A semicircular recess, with stone benches, used as a place for discussion. 2 (context by extension English) A curved bench with a high back.

In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's façade or is free-standing. The original Greek sense (ἐξέδρα, a seat out of doors) was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical conversation. An exedra may also be expressed by a curved break in a colonnade, perhaps with a semicircular seat.

The exedra would typically have an apsidal podium that supported the stone running bench. The free-standing (open air) exedra, often originally supporting bronze portrait statues is a familiar type of Hellenistic structure, characteristically sited along sacred ways or in open places in sanctuaries, such as at Delos or Epidaurus; sometimes Hellenistic exedrae were built in relation to a city's agora, as at Priene. Monument architects have also used this free-standing style in modern times.