A ceiling is the overhead surface or surfaces covering a space, and the underside of a floor or a roof. Ceilings are generally used to conceal floor and roof construction. They have been favoured places for decorating from the earliest times: either by coating the flat surface, in bringing out the structural members of roof or floor, or in commandeering it as an area for an allover pattern of relief.

Not much is understood of ancient Greek ceilings, but Roman ceilings were intricate with relief and painting, as is evidenced at the vault soffits of Pompeian baths. In the Gothic period, the normal design to utilize structural parts decoratively then adapted to the instigation of the beamed ceiling, in which sizeable cross-girders support smaller floor beams at right angles to them, beams and girders being strongly chamfered and molded and often painted in attractive colours.

In the Renaissance, ceiling design was developed to its highest pitch of originality and differentiation. Three types were developed. The first was the coffered ceiling, in the intricate design of which the Italian Renaissance architects far emulated their Roman prototypes. Circular, square, octagonal, and L-shaped coffers were designed, with their edges delicately carved and the field of each coffer flourished with a rosette. The second form consisted of ceilings fully or partially vaulted, usually with arched intersections, with painted bands showcasing the architectural design and with pictures covering the remainder of the space. The loggia of the Farnesina villa in Rome, decorated by Raphael and Giulio Romano, is a good example of this. In the Baroque period, mystical figures in heavy relief, scrolls, cartouches, and garlands were also brought in to decorate ceilings of this type. The Pitti Palace in Florence and many French ceilings in the Louis XIV style showcase this. In the third form, which was markedly found of Venice, the ceiling became a huge framed painting, like in the Doges’ Palace.

In modern architecture ceilings are sometimes split into two major kinds — the suspended (or hung) ceiling and the exposed ceiling. With ceilings hung at a distance underneath the structural members, some architects have decided to cover great amounts of mechanical and electrical equipment, such as electrical conduits, air-conditioning ducts, water pipes, sewage lines, and lighting fixtures. Many suspended ceilings have a lightweight metal grid suspended from the structure by wires or rods to hold plasterboard sheets or acoustical tiles.

Other architects, emphasizing the aesthetic of the exposed structural system, take enjoyment in showing the mechanical and electrical equipment. Because of this trend, many structural systems have been created that have a deliberate power in themselves and become admirable ceilings.

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