- Tympanum (architecture)
A tympanum (plural, tympana) is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance bounded by a
lintel andarch . [cite web
url=http://www.indoarch.org/arch_glossary.php
title=Glossary - Tympanum
publisher=Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent
accessdate=2007-06-28] It often contains sculptures or other ornaments. [cite web
url=http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/tympanum.htm
title= Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture - tympanum
publisher=University of Pittsburgh
accessdate=2007-06-23] Most architectural styles include this element. [cite web
url=http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/a/DCTNRY/t/tym.html
title= Illustrated Architecture Dictionary - Tympanum
publisher=freenet.buffalo.edu
accessdate=2007-06-25] The tympanum was invented inancient Egypt in the first half of the3rd century BC , and later appears in Greek, Christian andIslamic architecture . [Donald Routledge Hill (1996), "Engineering", in Roshdi Rashed, "Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science", Vol. 3, p. 751-795 [769] .] In Greek and Christian architecture, tympanums usually contained religious scenes. [cite web
url=http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/tympanum.htm
title=Tympanum
publisher=www.OntarioArchitecture.com
accessdate=2007-06-25]Bands of molding surrounding the tympanum are referred to as the
archivolt . [cite web
url=http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/archivolt.htm
title= Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture - archivolt
publisher=University of Pittsburgh
accessdate=2007-06-23]Gallery
ee also
*
Gable
* PortalNotes
External links
* [http://www.circuloromanico.com El Portal del Arte Románico] Visigothic, Mozarabe and Romanesque art in Spain.
* [http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/chartreswest/centralportal.html Sculpted tympanums Chartres Cathedral, West Front, Central Portal]
* [http://www.conques.com/visite5.htm Tympanum of the last Judgment - western portal of the abbey-church of Saint Foy]
* [http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_raisonn%C3%A9_de_l%E2%80%99architecture_fran%C3%A7aise_du_XIe_au_XVIe_si%C3%A8cle_-_Tome_9%2C_Tympan Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle - Tome 9, Tympan]
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