Flutes or Flutings

Flutes or Flutings

curved channels cut perpendicularly in the shafts of columns of classical architecture. In the Doric order the column has twenty flutes, separated by a sharp edge. In the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite there are twenty- four, separated by a small fillet. Spiral flutes occur in some classical, and in early Romanesque architecture. Flutes also occur, but rarely in pillars and pilasters of Gothic buildings.