"The most important quality of a home is light: how much light does it enter, the same is true with people."

The chandelier is a type of lamp that also acts as a decorative element of the ceiling of a room. It is therefore a device useful for the artificial lighting of indoor environments and is therefore placed at the top, on the ceiling, so as to ensure complete illumination and a stable position with respect to the generic lamp.

The first chandeliers had a structure usually constituted by one or more orders of candles, normally arranged in a circle and supported by spoked arms starting from a central motif suspended from above. The variation on the chandeliers was represented by this central motif and by the arms, according to different periods and locations. In the Middle Ages chandeliers were built in the shape of a circle or a crown, others in the shape of a cross placed horizontally. The Gothic style instead prefers simpler lines and structures with stiff stems and many arms that branch off to one or more orders. The preferred material for the construction of the chandeliers in these eras is precisely the iron and this predilection continues until the Renaissance, a period in which the chandelier is enriched with ornamental materials, such as glass, porcelain or semi-precious stones.

A rather unusual variant of the chandeliers is that represented by the so-called appliques, which can be defined as chandeliers applied to the wall. The origin of these types of chandeliers is contemporary to that of the central suspended chandelier. The shapes of the appliques are the most diverse: they range from simple and linear, represented by a part fixed to the wall that supports the saucer that will contain the candle, to those with two or more arms.

(from Wikipedia)