Attic (architecture)

The decoration of the topmost part of a building was particularly important in ancient Greek architecture and this came to be seen as typifying the Attica style,[citation needed] the earliest example known being that of the monument of Thrasyllus in Athens.

[1] It was largely employed in Ancient Rome, where their triumphal arches utilized it for inscriptions or for bas-relief sculpture.

By the Italian revivalists it was utilized as a complete storey, pierced with windows, as found in Andrea Palladio's work in Vicenza and in Greenwich Hospital, London.

One well-known large attic surmounts the entablature of St. Peter's Basilica, which measures 12 metres (39 ft) in height.

[2] Many examples can be found throughout the country, notably at Wawel Castle in Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, Tarnów, Zamość, Sandomierz and Kazimierz Dolny.