Oculus (architecture)
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An oculus is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in classical architecture, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture.
Renaissance oculus on the west facade of the Cour Carrée of the Louvre Palace, with figures of war and peace, sculpted by Jean Goujon and designed by Pierre Lescot, 1548
An oeil-de-boeuf window of the Château de Chenonceau, France
An "œil de bœuf" window in Lyon (France)
An oeil-de-boeuf window in the Georgian Sutton Lodge in Sutton, London.
Villa La Rotonda
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Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in Northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1605. The vi
Palladio's plan of Villa La Rotonda in I quattro libri dell'architettura, 1570
Interior of the rotonda
The cupola