Pediment

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Pediment

A pediment is a classical architectural

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is the set of building styles and techniques of Classical Greece, as used in ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, and the Roman empire....
element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure (entablature

Entablature

An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capital . Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave—the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall immediately above; the frieze&md...
), typically supported by column

Column

File:National Capitol Columns - Washington, D.C..jpgA column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through physical compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below....
s. The gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns....
end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice

Cornice

The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning ?ledge.?Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal....
moulding. The tympanum

Tympanum (architecture)

A tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculptures or other ornaments....
, or triangular area within the pediment, was often decorated with sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is Three-dimensional space artwork created by shaping or combining hard and or plastic material, sound, and or text and or light, commonly Stone sculpture , metal, glass, or wood....
s and relief

Relief

A relief is a sculptured artwork where a modelled form is raised, or in sunken-relief lowered, from a flatish background plane without being disconnected from it....
s demonstrating scenes of Greek and Roman mythology

Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
or allegorical figures. It also consisted of many bright colours suitable to the nature of the building being adorned.

pediment is found in classical

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is the set of building styles and techniques of Classical Greece, as used in ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, and the Roman empire....
Greek temple

Greek temple

Greek temples were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in Greek paganism. The temples themselves did usually not directly serve a cult purpose, since the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the respective deity took place outside them....
s, renaissance, and neo-classical architecture.

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History

The pediment is found in classical

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is the set of building styles and techniques of Classical Greece, as used in ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, and the Roman empire....
Greek temple

Greek temple

Parthenon

The Parthenon is a Greek temple of the Greek gods Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order....
, where it served as a palette for beautiful, intricate sculptural detail, in the Roman Pantheon

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
no such sculpture was intended. This architectural element was developed in the architecture of ancient Greece. In Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
, and later architectural revivals

Historicism (art)

Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. So, after neo-classicism , the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in architecture and in the genre of history painting....
, the pediment was used as a non-structural element over window

Window

File:OldShipWindows.jpgA window is an opening in a wall that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparency or translucent material....
s, door

Door

A door is a moveable barrier used to cover an opening. Doors are used widely and are found in walls or partitions of a building or space, furniture such as cupboards, cage s, vehicles, and containers....
s and aedicules.

A variant is the "segmental" pediment, where the normal angular slope of the raking cornice is replaced by one in the form of a segment of a circle, in the manner of a depressed arch. Both traditional and segmental pediments have "broken" and "open" forms. In the broken pediment the raking cornice is left open at the apex. The open pediment is open along the base – often used in Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking world to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, and George IV of the...
style architecture. A further variant is the "Swan-necked" pediment, where the raking cornice is in the form of two S-shaped brackets

Bracket (architecture)

A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf....
. The decorations in the tympanum can extend through these openings, enriched with "Alto-relievo" sculpture, "tondo

Tondo (art)

A tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian language rotondo, "round." The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about two foot in diameter, thus excluding many round portrait miniatures....
" paintings, mirrors or windows. These forms were adopted in Mannerist architecture, and applied to furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body , provide storage, or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground....
designed, or inspired, by Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, Rococo, and Neoclassical architecture styles. He went to London in 1749 where, in 1754, he became the first cabinet-maker to publish a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director. Three editions were published, the firs...
.

Significant pediments in the United States

* United States Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol serves as the seat of government for the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States....
, Washington D.C.

United States Supreme Court building
United States Supreme Court building

The Supreme Court building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is situated in Washington, D.C. at 1 First Street NE, on the block immediately east of the United States Capitol....
, Washington D.C.
National Archives Building
National Archives and Records Administration

The United States National Archives and Records Administration is an Independent agencies of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents....
, Washington D.C.
Wisconsin State Capitol
Wisconsin State Capitol

The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the List of Governors of Wisconsin....
, Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the List of U.S. state capitals of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
Wayne County Building
Wayne County Building

The Wayne County Building is a lowrise government tower in Detroit, Michigan. It stands at 600 Randolph Street, and contains the Wayne County, Michigan administrative offices, and its courthouse....
, Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Wayne County, Michigan. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwestern United States of the United States....
New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange based in New York City, New York. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar market capitalization of its listed companies' Security ....
Building, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
San Francisco City Hall
San Francisco City Hall

The City Hall of San Francisco, California, opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, San Francisco, is a Beaux-Arts architecture monument to the brief "City Beautiful" movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the period 1880?1917....
, San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of 799,183....
Missouri State Capitol
Missouri State Capitol

The Missouri State Capitol is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Missouri. Housing the Missouri General Assembly, it is located in the state capital of Jefferson City, Missouri at 201 West Capitol Avenue....
, Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City is the Capital of the United States U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County, Missouri. Located in Callaway County, Missouri and Cole County, Missouri counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties....
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, known locally and colloquially as "The Art Museum", is among the largest art museums in the United States....
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...

In geology

Geology

Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structural geology, physical properties, dynamics, and History of the Earth of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed....
, a pediment is rock which slightly slopes upward along graded surfaces of rocks of various resistance. Gilbert (1877) first described pediments on the upturned edges of tilted beds of Henry Mountains

Henry Mountains

The Henry Mountains are located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Utah and run in a generally north-south direction, extending over a distance of about 30 miles ....
in Utah

Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
. They slightly relate to the profile of graded streams.

Pediment

History

Significant pediments in the United States

In geology

See also

External links

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