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candlestick

chandelier, a branched candleholder—or, in modern times, electric-light holder—suspended from the ceiling. Hanging candleholders made of wood or iron and simply shaped were used in Anglo-Saxon churches before the Norman Conquest (1066). In the 12th and 13th centuries huge openwork hoops of iron or bronze supported numerous prickets (spikes) for candles.

Brass chandeliers were made in the late European Middle Ages, mostly for churches. In the 18th century the Netherlands became known for its brass chandeliers, which had a boldly shaped baluster stem terminating in a large, burnished, reflecting sphere; from the stem sprang S-shaped branches ending in sockets.

In England and France fine chandeliers in silver and carved and gilded wood were made during the 18th century. The earliest English glass chandeliers date from the 1720s and were of plain design with a ball at the base. Eventually they became very elaborate, with glass icicles around the shaft and long cascades of pear-shaped drops. On the European continent the finest chandeliers were usually of rock crystal, but many glass chandeliers were made in Venice and Bohemia in the 18th century. Venetian chandeliers were known for their multicoloured glass and floral ornament.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeannine Deubel.
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lighting, use of an artificial source of light for illumination. It is a key element of architecture and interior design. Residential lighting uses mainly either incandescent lamps or fluorescent lamps and often depends heavily on movable fixtures plugged into outlets; built-in lighting is typically found in kitchens, bathrooms, and corridors and in the form of hanging pendants in dining rooms and sometimes recessed fixtures in living rooms. Lighting in nonresidential buildings is predominantly fluorescent. High-pressure sodium-vapour lamps (see electric discharge lamp) have higher efficiency and are used in industrial applications. Halogen lamps have residential, industrial, and photographic applications. Depending on their fixtures, lamps (bulbs) produce a variety of lighting conditions. Incandescent lamps placed in translucent glass globes create diffuse effects; in recessed ceiling-mounted fixtures with reflectors, they can light walls or floors evenly. Fluorescent fixtures are typically recessed and rectangular, with prismatic lenses, but other types including indirect cove lights (see coving) and luminous ceilings, in which lamps are placed above suspended translucent panels. Mercury-vapour and high-pressure sodium-vapour lamps are placed in simple reflectors in industrial spaces, in pole-mounted streetlight fixtures, and in indirect up-lighting fixtures for commercial applications. In the 21st century, newer technologies included LEDs (light-emitting diodes; semi-conductors that convert electricity into light), CFLs (compact fluorescent lights, which are 80 percent more efficient than incandescent lights), and ESL (electron-stimulated luminescence, which works by using accelerated electrons to light a coating on the inside of a bulb).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.
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