capiteles

Capiteles are the sculpted blocks at the top of a column or pilaster, forming the transition between the shaft and the entablature. They serve to distribute loads from above to the column and can range from simple to highly decorative, depending on architectural style and period. In classical orders, capitals are canonical shapes: the Doric capital is plain and compact with an echinus, the Ionic capital features volutes, and the Corinthian and Composite capitals are elaborate, adorned with acanthus leaves and other foliage.

Beyond the classical orders, capiteles also appear in Romanesque and Gothic architecture, where their forms frequently include vegetal motifs, animals, or figurative reliefs. In these contexts, capitals acquire a narrative or symbolic function as well as a decorative one, often signaling the building’s purpose or the status of its patrons. Capiteles continued to be a key feature in Renaissance, Baroque, and neoclassical revivals, where designers echoed classical models and adapted them to contemporary tastes and structural needs.

Materials used for capiteles are typically stone—such as marble or limestone—but wood capitals were also employed in certain regions and periods, particularly in vernacular architecture or interior columns. The proportions of a capitel are related to the diameter of the column and the overall scale of the elevation, helping to achieve visual harmony in the column’s transition to the architrave.

In architectural discourse, capiteles is the plural form used in Spanish-language texts to refer to multiple such capitals, and the term is widely encountered in studies of columns across Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Americas.