Page "Aedicula" Paragraph 4

Other aediculae were small shrines within larger temples, usually set on a base, surmounted by a pediment and surrounded by columns.

In Roman architecture the aedicula has this representative function in the society.

They are installed in public buildings like the Triumphal arch, City gate, or Thermes.

The Celsus Library in Ephesus ( 2. c. AD ) is a good example.

From the 4th century Christianization of the Roman Empire onwards such shrines, or the framework enclosing them, are often called by the Biblical term tabernacle, which becomes extended to any elaborated framework for a niche, window or picture.