In architecture, a pavilion (from French pavillon, from Latin papilio) has several meanings. In architectural terminology it refers to a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often its function makes it an object of pleasure.
In the traditional architecture of Asia, palaces or other large houses may have one or more subsidiary pavilions that are either freestanding or connected by covered walkways, as in the Forbidden City, Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, and in the Red Fort and other buildings of Mughal architecture.
In another more specific meaning applied to large palaces, it refers to symmetrically placed subsidiary buildingblocks that appear to be attached to each end of a main building block or to the outer ends of wings that extend from both sides of a central building block – the corps de logis. Such configurations provide an emphatic visual termination to the composition of a large building, akin to bookends.
