Tympanum (Architecture)
In architecture, the tympanum is the vertical surface of a pediment completing the triangle bounded by the ridges, or the vertical part of a portal , between the lintel and arch semicircular or arched vault. It is then topped by archivolts.
It is often used to present a bas-relief on the front of the churches of Romanesque and Gothic.
Etymologically, the term refers to a drum, a membrane stretched across an opening, like tympani separating outer ear and middle ear. Here the membrane is made of stone, stretched across the arch.
Many other languages use the term scope , which is inappropriate in French even if one considers the shape (half moon) because no opening ( oculus ) is no breakthrough.
Summary |
 St. Restitut Portal to the ancient (Drme) - The Romanesque Provence has borrowed many stylistic features to the architecture of the ancient Greco-Roman. |  The Last Judgement : archivolt tympanum and portal of the cathedral of Bamberg ( Germany ). |  Abbey Sainte-Foy in Conques - The Romanesque tympanum representing the Last Judgement (c. 1050). |  |
Gothic Architecture
 Gothic Tympanum, Notre-Dame de Paris. |  Spandrel glass in the cathedral of Toul. |
See also
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