Enfilade (architecture)

The enfilade may be used as a processional route and is a common arrangement in museums and art galleries, as it facilitates the movement of large numbers of people through a building.

In a Baroque palace, access down an enfilade suite of state rooms typically was restricted by the rank or degree of intimacy of the visitor.

Baroque protocol dictated that visitors of lower rank than their host would be escorted by servants down the enfilade to the farthest room their status allowed.

At parting, the same ritual would be observed, although the host might pay their guest a compliment by taking them back farther than their rank strictly dictated.

The Palace of Westminster, shown below, comes into this category, as the monarch sits on a throne in the chamber of the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament.