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Cryptoporticus

Cryptoporticus Nero, underground Imperial Palace (Rome)

A cryptoporticus is a gallery intended for traffic or storage and integrated into a larger complex built in use in the Roman times.

Cryptoporticus the term is a neologism Latin wrought on the Greek terms portico and cruptos (hidden). One can distinguish two forms of cryptoporticus, one built in the Roman villas, the other purely utilitarian.

Summary

1 The domestic cryptoporticus
2 The cryptoporticus architectural or crypta
3 Examples of Roman cryptoporticus
4 Sources
- 4.1 References
- 4.2 Bibliography

The domestic cryptoporticus

Plan of the house of the Mosaic Atrium, with a garden surrounded by a cryptoporticus

This replaces the cryptoporticus portico with columns Hellenistic, which keeps the overall plan surrounding a courtyard or garden, but the spaces between columns are enclosed by a wall, or replaced by a wall of windows.

Pliny the Younger in four of his letters described the cryptoporticos its villas of Larentinum, 25 km from Rome and Tuscany. That the villa had Laurentium windows either side opening onto the sea or the garden. In Tuscany, a villa had two, one raised and one semi-underground, to keep a certain freshness. All offered a beautiful view and protected from the heat of the sun. By opening or closing the windows on one side or the other depending on the season and the weather, we enjoyed a pleasant breeze, or it is protected from winter winds .

The architectural or cryptoporticus crypta

Cryptoporticus (Reims)

In this case, the cryptoporticus is an archway underground, usually implemented to support a building or to compensate for unevenness of ground a monument, as can be seen in the forums of the Roman provinces, from the High Empire ( ^I. and ^second centuries AD).

Besides its usefulness purely architectural , the cryptoporticus could be used for wide range of applications taking advantage of its obscurity and freshness:

perforated with vents on the sides to ensure a light and decorated, it served as a promenade covered during the hot
reserve protecting some perishables such as meat or wheat for example ( horreum )

However, given the present remains of a given site, it is often difficult to identify one of these uses for sure .

Examples of Roman cryptoporticus

France

The cryptoporticus Forum Bavay claimed the western part of the forum, 95 meters wide. Its construction rubble alternating with brick foundations remained in the form of well-preserved remains
Cryptoporticus Arles : it comprises three sections U to two aisles of 8.5 meters wide, supported by pillars constructed of large aircraft. L. It compensated for the difference in ground level, and supported the portico which bordered the forum
Cryptoporticus Reims : in three sections with two naves supported by columns of stone square, it has a painted lining .