exedra

thumb|Exedra of Pamphilidas, Acropolis of Lindos, Rhodes, Greece thumb|right|The foundations and partial floor of a late Roman villa. The floored part is the exedra. The rest of the floor has deteriorated and is missing, with only parts of the [[hypocaust columns remaining. Hot air circulated through the hypocaust to heat the house.]] An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ('a seat out of doors') was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for conversation. An exedra may also be expressed by a curved break in a colonnade, perhaps with a semicircular seat.

The exedra would typically have an apsidal podium that supported the stone bench. The free-standing (open air) exedra, often supporting bronze portrait sculpture, is a familiar Hellenistic structure, characteristically sited along sacred ways or in open places in sanctuaries, such as at Delos or Epidaurus. Some Hellenistic exedrae were built in relation to a city's agora, as in Priene. Monument architects have also used this free-standing style in modern times.