Grille

Grille, a French term for an enclosure in either iron or bronze; there is no equivalent in English, “grating” applying more to a horizontal frame of bars over a sunk area, and “grate” to the iron bars of an open fireplace. The finest examples of the grille are those known as the rejas, which in Spanish churches form the enclosures of the chapels, such as the reja in the Capilla Real at Granada in wrought iron partly gilt (1522). Similar grilles are employed to protect the ground-floor windows of mansions not only in Spain but in Italy and Germany. In England the most beautiful example is that in front of Queen Eleanor’s tomb in Westminster Abbey, in wrought iron. The finest grilles in Italy are the enclosures of the tombs of the Della Scalas at Verona (end of 13th century), in Germany the grille of the cenotaph of Maximilian at Innsbruck (early 16th century) and in France those which enclose the Place Stanislaus, the Place de la Carrière and the churches of Nancy, which were wrought by Jean Lamour in the middle of the 18th century. Generally, however, throughout Germany the wrought iron grilles are fine examples of forging, and they are employed for the enclosures of the numerous fountains, in the tympana of gateways, and for the protection of windows. At Danzig in the Marienkirche are some fine examples in brass.

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