Entry · Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Plate CXXV. St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, its onion domes rising above autumn trees against a blue sky.
Onion Dome
/UN-yun dohm/ n.- 1. A bulbous architectural cupola of Eastern Orthodox and Russian ecclesiastical tradition, characterized by a silhouette that swells dramatically outward below the apex before tapering to a point, such that the dome's widest circumference sits well below its crown; esp. one clustered in multiples atop a cathedral, each competing for the title of thicccest.
- 2. colloq. Architecture that peaked by going wide first. The spire is decorative. The curve is the argument.
"The thiccc onion domes of St. Basil's read less like rooftops and more like a skyline that had simply refused to stay slim. The bulge precedes the point by several theological feet."
From Old English ynne (onion), from Latin unio (a single large pearl, a union), combined with Middle English dom (a vaulted roof), from Old English dom (judgment, structure). The onion comparison entered architectural writing in the 18th century as a polite way of saying the dome had gotten away from itself. It had.
Filed by
A dome that bulges before it points has made a structural argument I am not equipped to refuse.
Ruling ADMITTED UNDER PROTEST
The widest circumference sitting below the crown is geometrically indefensible and also geometrically correct. The dome did that on purpose. Admitted.
In the margin
Multiple domes on one building, each one trying to out-bulge the others. That is not architecture. That is a competition with no judges and no losers!