Tympanum (architecture)

In ancient Greek, Roman and Christian architecture, tympana of religious buildings usually contain religious imagery.[4] A tympanum over a doorway is very often the most important, or only, location for monumental sculpture on the outside of a building. In classical architecture, and in classicising styles from the Renaissance onwards, major examples are usually triangular; in Romanesque architecture, tympana have a semi-circular shape, or that of a thinner slice from the top of a circle, and in Gothic architecture they have a more vertical shape, coming to a point at the top. These shapes naturally influence the typical compositions of any sculpture within the tympanum.

Bands of molding surrounding the tympanum are referred to as the archivolt.[5]

In medieval French architecture the tympanum is often supported by a decorated pillar called a trumeau.

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  Ex Nihilo (Out of Nothing) by Frederick Hart, tympanum over center doors, Washington National Cathedral.
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  Tympanum of Kumari-ghar at Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu.
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  Archivolts surrounding a tympanum of the west façade Strasbourg Cathedral, France.
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  The three tympana on the main façade of Notre-Dame de Paris, France.
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  Tympanum of Banteay Srei, Cambodia, depicting Sunda and Upasunda fight over the Apsara Tilottama.
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  Sculpted tympanum in Stralsund, Germany
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  Adoration of the Magi on a tympanum on Saint-Thiébaut Church, Thann, France.
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  Religious scene in a tympanum, Church San Lorenzo, Vicenza, Italy.
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  Scenes of the lives of Saint Peter and Mary, St Peter's, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
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  High-relief bronze tympanum of Writing, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, DC, USA.
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  Tympanum (showing the tree of life) and archivolt at Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck
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  Tympanum showing Christ in Majesty with four attendant angels, Rowlestone, Herefordshire, UK.
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  Romanesque Tympanum in the cathedral of Trier from about 1180
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  Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, Argentina, 1791.
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  Typanum of the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Philippines.

• Church architecture
• Gable
• Pediment
• Portal

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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Tympanum.

• Sculpted tympanums Chartres Cathedral, West Front, Central Portal
• Tympanum of the last Judgment - western portal of the abbey-church of Saint Foy