Editing Pediment (section)

== History ==
[[File:Gorgon at the Archaeological Museum in Corfu.jpg|thumb|The earliest surviving [[pedimental sculpture]], [[Temple of Artemis, Corfu]], about 580–570 BC, in a reconstructed setting]]
===Classical===
The pediment is found in classical Greek temples, Etruscan, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, and Beaux-Arts architecture.  Greek temples, normally rectangular in plan, generally had a pediment at each end, but Roman temples, and subsequent revivals, often had only one, in both cases across the whole width of the main front or facade. The rear of the typical Roman temple was a blank wall, usually without columns, but often a full pediment above.  This effectively divorced the pediment from the columns beneath it in the original temple front ensemble, and thereafter it was no longer considered necessary for a pediment to be above columns. 

The most famous example of the Greek scheme is the [[Parthenon]], with two [[Tympanum (architecture)|tympanums]] filled with large groups of sculpted figures.<ref name=":0" />  An extreme but very influential example of the Roman style is the [[Pantheon, Rome]], where a portico with pediment fronts a circular temple.<ref>Summerson, 25, 39</ref>
[[File:Markttor zu Milet-Pergamonmuseum-2018.jpg|thumb|2nd-century [[Market Gate of Miletus]], Pergamon Museum, Berlin]]

In [[ancient Rome]], the [[Renaissance]], and later [[Revivalism (architecture)|architectural revivals]], small pediments are a non-structural element over [[window]]s, [[door]]s, and [[aedicula]]e,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kimball|first1=Fiske|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUsAAAAAYAAJ|title=A History of Architecture|last2=Edgell|first2=George Harold|date=1918|publisher=Harper & Brothers|pages=108, 118, 144, 423|language=en}}</ref> protecting windows and openings from rain, as well as being decorative.  From the 5th century pediments also might appear on tombs and later non-architectural objects such as [[sarcophagi]].<ref>Lawrence, 190, Plate 95B</ref>

In the Hellenistic period pediments became used for a wider range of buildings, and treated much more freely, especially outside Greece itself. Broken and open pediments are used in a way that is often described as "baroque".  The large 2nd-century [[Market Gate of Miletus]], now reconstructed in the [[Pergamon Museum]] in [[Berlin]], has a pediment that retreats in the centre, so appears both broken and open, a feature also seen at the [[Al-Khazneh]] (so-called "Treasury") tomb at [[Petra]] in modern [[Jordan]].  The broken pediments on each of the four sides of the [[Arch of Septimius Severus (Leptis Magna)|Arch of Septimius Severus]] at [[Leptis Magna]] in [[Libya]] are very small elements, raking at an extremely steep angle, but not extending beyond the entablature for the columns below. There are two faces to each pediment, both carved, with one lying parallel to the wall of the monument, and the other at right angles to that.

The [[Arch of Augustus (Rimini)|Arch of Augustus]] in [[Rimini]], Italy (27 BC), an early imperial monument, suggests that at this stage provincial Roman architects were not well practiced in the classical vocabulary; the base of the pediment ends close to, but not over, the capitals of the columns. Here the whole temple front is decoration applied to a very solid wall, but the lack of respect for the conventions of Greek [[post and lintel|trabeated]] architecture remains rather disconcerting.<ref>Favro, Diane, entry in the ''Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology'', p. 65, 2015, ed. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781134268542, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LeE4CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 google books]
</ref> 

Conventional Roman pediments have a slightly steeper pitch than classical Greek ones, perhaps because they ended tiled roofs that received heavier rainfall.

<gallery widths="170" mode="packed" heights="150">

Горгона артеміда.jpg|[[Ancient Greek architecture|Ancient Greek]] west pediment of the Temple of Artemis in Corfu, {{circa}}580 BC, probably limestone, [[Archaeological Museum of Corfu]], [[Kerkyra]], Greece

File:Paestum Temples (Italy, October 2020) - 19 (50562342776).jpg|Ancient Greek west front of the [[Temple of Athena (Paestum)|Temple of Athena, Paestum]], unknown architect, {{circa}}500 BC

File:Reconstruction drawing of the Temple of Aphaea, Aegina, Greece (01).jpg|Reconstruction drawing of the facade of the [[Temple of Aphaia]], [[Aegina]], Greece, including its pediment, unknown temple architect or illustrator, {{circa}}500 BC

File:Reconstruction drawing of the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece (01).jpg|Reconstruction drawing of the facade of the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus]], [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], Greece, including its pediment, unknown architect or illustrator, {{circa}}472-456 BC

Reconstruction drawing of the Temple of Zeus Hellanios Aegina, Greece, by Charles Garnier, 1852 (01).webp|Reconstruction drawing of the facade of the [[Temple of Hellanius Zeus (Aegina)|Temple of Hellanius Zeus]], Aegina, including its pediment, showing the [[polychromy]] all ancient sculptures and buildings had, unknown architect, illustrated by [[Charles Garnier (architect)|Charles Garnier]] in 1852, unknown date

File:Acròpoli d'Atenes, façana est del Partenó.JPG|One of the few sections of the sculpture of the Ancient Greek pediment of the [[Parthenon]] still in place; others are the [[Elgin Marbles]] in the [[British Museum]], London
File:Pediments of the Parthenon as they were in 1683 - Stuart James & Revett Nicholas - 1816.jpg|Illustrations with the sculptures of the two pediments of the Parthenon, by [[James "Athenian" Stuart|James Stuart]] and [[Nicholas Revett]] in 1794
File:Arco d´Augusto Rimini.JPG|[[Roman architecture|Roman]] pediment of the [[Arch of Augustus (Rimini)|Arch of Augustus]], Rimini, 27 BC

File:Celsus library in Ephesus (5631574095).jpg|Roman mascaron with [[rinceau]]x in a segmental [[pediment]] of the [[Library of Celsus]], Ephesus, Turkey, unknown architect, {{circa}}110 AD

File:DM Tiberius Claudius Chryseros.jpg|Roman pediment on a funerary urn, unknown date, marble, [[Terme di Diocleziano]], Rome

Disco de Teodosio.jpg|Late Roman-early [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] pediment on the [[Missorium of Theodosius I]], 388, silver, [[Real Academia de la Historia]], Madrid, Spain<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eastmond|first1=Anthony|title=The Glory of Byzantium and early Christendom|date=2013|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-4810-5|page=45|url=|language=en}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Medieval===
In [[Carolingian architecture|Carolingian]] and [[Romanesque architecture]] pediments tended towards the [[equilateral triangle]], and the enclosing cornice has little emphasis; they are often merely gable ends with some ornament. In [[Gothic architecture]] pediments with a much more [[acute angle]] at the top were used, especially over doorways and windows, but while the rising sides of the cornice is elaborate, the horizontal bottom element was typically not very distinct. Often there is a [[pointed arch]] underneath, and no bottom element at all. "Pediment" is typically not used for these; they are often called a "canopy".  From the Renaissance onwards, some pediments no longer fitted the steeply pitched roofs and became freestanding, sometimes sloping in the opposite direction to the roof behind.

<gallery widths="170" mode="packed" heights="150">
File:F06.St.-Jouin.1912.jpg|[[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] pediment of the [[Abbaye Saint-Jouin de Marnes]], Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, Deux-Sèvres, France, started in 1095
File:Castel del monte-entrance.jpg|Entrance of the [[Castel del Monte, Apulia]], Italy, 1240s
File:Orvieto, cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (017).jpg|[[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] pediment of [[Orvieto Cathedral]], Orvieto, Italy, 1290-1591
</gallery>

===Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo=== 
[[File:Sant' Agostino (Rom).jpg|thumb|[[Sant'Agostino, Rome]], by multiple architects, 1483, with three pediments, including a squashed one in the middle]]
When classical-style low triangular pediments returned in [[Italian Renaissance architecture]], they were initially mostly used to top a relatively flat facade, with [[Engaged column|engaged]] elements rather than freestanding porticos supported by columns. [[Leon Battista Alberti]] used them in this way in his churches: the [[Tempio Malatestiano]] (1450s, incomplete), [[Santa Maria Novella]] (to 1470), [[San Sebastiano (Mantua)|San Sebastiano in Mantua]] (unfinished by the 1470s), [[Basilica of Sant'Andrea, Mantua|Sant'Andrea, Mantua]] (begun 1472), and [[Pienza Cathedral]] {{circa|1460}}), where the design was probably his. Here the cornice comes out and then retreats back, forming the top of [[pilaster]]s with no capitals, a very unclassical note, which was to become much used. 

In most of these, Alberti followed classical precedent by having the pediment occupy the whole width of the facade, or at least that part that projects outwards.  Santa Maria Novella and [[Sant'Agostino, Rome]] (1483, by [[Giacomo di Pietrasanta]], perhaps designed by Alberti) were early examples of what was to become a very common scheme, where the pediment at the top of the facade was much less wide, forming a third zone above a middle zone that transitioned the width from that of the bottom.  The giant curving [[volute]] or [[Scroll (art)|scroll]] used at the sides of the middle zone at Sant'Agostino was to be a very common feature over the next two centuries.  As in Gothic architecture, this often reflected the shapes of the roofs behind, where the [[nave]] was higher than the side-aisles.<ref>Yarwood, 312-314; Summerson, 78-79</ref> 

Sant'Agostino also has a low, squashed down pediment at the top of the full-width section.<ref>[[Charles Herbert Moore]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=b1vMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT74 ''Character of Renaissance Architecture''], 74, 1905</ref> This theme was developed by [[Andrea Palladio]] in the next century. The main facade of his [[San Giorgio Maggiore (church), Venice|San Giorgio Maggiore]] in [[Venice]] (begun 1566) has "two interpenetrating temple fronts", a wider one being overlaid with a narrower and higher one, respectively following the roof lines of the aisles and nave.<ref>Summerson, illus 41</ref>  Several of Palladio's villas also introduced the pediment to country house architecture, which was to be become extremely common in English [[Palladian architecture]].  In cities, Palladio reserved the temple front for churches, but in the Baroque, and especially outside Italy, this distinction was abandoned.

The first use of pediments over windows in the Renaissance was on the [[Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni]] in Florence, completed in 1523 by [[Baccio d'Agnolo]]. [[Vasari]] says the innovation caused ridicule initially, but later came to be admired and widely adopted.<ref>{{cite book |last= Riegl |first= Alois |author-link= |date= 30 November 2010|title= The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RvkatVCWEmgC|access-date=13 February 2022|location= Los Angeles, California | publisher= Getty Publications| page=143| isbn= 978-1-606-06041-4}}</ref> Baccio was accused of turning a ''[[palazzo]]'' into a church.  Three windows on each of three storeys (and the door) alternate regular and segmental pediments; there is no pediment at the top of the facade, just a large cornice, as was usual.<ref>[[Charles Herbert Moore]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=b1vMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT196 ''Character of Renaissance Architecture''], 109-110, 1905</ref>  

[[File:Saint Peter's Basilica facade, Rome, Italy.jpg|thumb|[[St Peter's Basilica]], Rome, by multiple architects, 1506-1626]]
In [[St Peter's Basilica]] there is a conventional pediment over the main entrance, but the complicated facade stretches beyond it to both sides and above, and though large in absolute terms it makes a relatively small impression. Many later buildings used a temple front with pediment as a highlight of a much wider building. The St Peter's facade also has many small pedimented windows and [[aedicular]] niches, using a mixture of segmental, broken, and open pediments.

Variations using multiple pediments became very popular in [[Baroque architecture]], and the central vertical line of church facades often ascended through several pediments of different sizes and shapes, in Rome five at the [[Church of the Gesù]] ([[Giacomo della Porta]] 1584) and six at [[Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi]] ([[Martino Longhi the Younger]], 1646), the top three folding into each other, using the same base line.<ref>Summerson, 78-79</ref>  This facade has been described as "a veritable symphony in repetitious pedimentry, bringing together a superimposed array of broken pediments, open pediments and arched pediments".<ref>Furman</ref>  The Gesù is the home church of the [[Jesuit order]], who favoured this style, which was first seen in many cities around Europe in a new main Jesuit church.

<gallery widths="170" mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Historic Centre of the City of Pienza-111586.jpg|[[Pienza#The_Duomo|Pienza Cathedral]], Italy, with the [[coat of arms]] of [[Pope Pius II]], 1459-1462
File:Venezia Blick vom Campanile der Basilica di San Marco auf die Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore 6.jpg|[[San Giorgio Maggiore (church), Venice|San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice]], by [[Andrea Palladio]], begun 1566
File:Church of the Gesù, Rome.jpg|[[Church of the Gesù]], Rome, by [[Giacomo della Porta]], 1584
File:Église Santi Vincenzo Anastasio Fontana Trevi - Rome (IT62) - 2021-08-30 - 1.jpg|[[Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi]], Italy, by [[Martino Longhi the Younger]], 1646
File:Roma - Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo - Facade.jpg|The facade of [[Santa Maria del Popolo]], Rome, 1470s, with half-pediments at the mid-level by [[Bernini]], replacing [[volute]]s
File:Palazzo_bartolini_salimbeni2.JPG|[[Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni]], 1523, the first pedimented windows of the Renaissance
File:Pediment of the West facade of the Pavillon Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (PA00085992 1560).jpg|[[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] pediment of the Pavillon Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, part of the [[Palais du Louvre]], Paris, unknown architect and sculptor, 17th century

Dijon Palais des Ducs de Bourgogne 02 détail 01.jpg|Baroque pediment of the [[Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy]], Dijon, France, by [[Daniel Gittard]] after [[Jules Hardouin-Mansart]], 1682-1689

File:Pierre legros, gloria di san luigi gonzaga, 1697-99, 01, altare con colonne di verde antico (cropped pediments and cartouche).jpg|Baroque cartouche and pediments on the Altar of Saint [[Aloysius Gonzaga]], [[Sant'Ignazio, Rome|Sant'Ignazio]], Rome, by [[Pierre Le Gros the Younger]], 1697-1699

File:Münster, Erbdrostenhof -- 2014 -- 4011.jpg|Curving [[Rococo]] pediment of the [[Erbdrostenhof]], Münster, Germany, by [[Johann Conrad Schlaun]], 1753-1757
</gallery>

===From 1750 to Art Deco===
[[File:GCT glory of commerce.jpg|thumb|Beaux Arts broken segmental pediment, [[Grand Central Terminal]],  New York City, architects [[Reed and Stem]] and [[Warren and Wetmore]], sculptor [[Jules Coutan]], 1903{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=135}}]]
Pediments became extremely common on the main facades of [[English country house]]s, and many across northern Europe; these might be placed over a porch with columns, or simply decorations to an essentially flat facade. In England, if there was any sculpture within the tympanum, it was often restricted to a [[coat of arms]]. 

[[Neoclassical architecture]] returned to "purer" classical models mostly using conventional triangular pediments, often over a portico with columns. Large schemes of [[pedimental sculpture]] were used where the budget allowed. In 19th-century styles, freer treatments returned, and large segmental pediments were especially popular in eclectic styles such as [[Beaux-Arts architecture]], often overwhelmed by sculpture within, above, and to the sides. 

Large pediments with columns, often called the "temple front", became widely used for important public buildings such as [[stock exchange]]s, [[reserve bank]]s, law courts, legislatures, and museums, where an impression of solidity, reliability, and respectability was desired.

<gallery widths="170" mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Petit Trianon, théâtre de la Reine, entrée.jpg|[[Louis XVI style]] pediment with a [[putto]] of the Théâtre de la reine, part of the [[Petit Trianon]], France, by [[Richard Mique]], {{circa}}1780

File:Petit Trianon - Belvédère 2012.jpg|Louis XVI style pediment of the [[Belvédère (Petit Trianon)|Belvédère]], part of the Petit Trianon, by Richard Mique, completed in 1781<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/estate-trianon/english-gardens#the-belvedere|website=en.chateauversailles.fr|title=the english gardens|author=|date=11 February 2020 |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

File:Église St Vincent Paul Paris 6.jpg|[[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] pediment of the [[Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris|Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul]], Paris, by [[Jacques Ignace Hittorff]], 1830–1846<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watkin|first1=David|title=A History of Western Architecture|date=2022|publisher=Laurence King|isbn=978-1-52942-030-2|pages=444|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Fontaine St Michel Paris 2.jpg|[[Baroque Revival architecture|Baroque Revival]] pediment of the {{lang|fr|[[Fontaine Saint-Michel]]|italic=no}}, Paris, by [[Gabriel Davioud]], 1858<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watkin|first1=David|title=A History of Western Architecture|date=2022|publisher=Laurence King|isbn=978-1-52942-030-2|pages=445|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Détail façade principale Palais Garnier Paris 13.jpg|[[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] pediment with sculptures on the facade of the {{lang|fr|[[Palais Garnier]]|italic=no}}, Paris, by [[Charles Garnier (architect)|Charles Garnier]], 1861–1874<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Hutton|title=The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02236-8|page=989|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Berlín, Antigua Galería Nacional 1.jpg|Neoclassical pediment of the [[Alte Nationalgalerie]], Berlin, Germany, by [[Friedrich August Stüler]] and [[Heinrich Strack]], 1865–1869<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watkin|first1=David|title=A History of Western Architecture|date=2022|publisher=Laurence King|isbn=978-1-52942-030-2|pages=483|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Lyon 6e - Boulevard des Belges, entrée du musée Guimet.jpg|Neoclassical pediment with [[acroterion|acroteria]] of a door of the [[Musée d'histoire naturelle - Guimet]], Lyon, France, by [[Jules Chatron]], 1879<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guimet.fr/fr/musee-guimet/emile-guimet-fondateur-du-musee |title= Emile Guimet, fondateur du musée | website=guimet.fr | date=14 January 2015}}</ref>

Hôtel Caisse Épargne - Dijon (FR21) - 2022-04-16 - 6.jpg|[[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance Revival]] pediment of the [[Hôtel de la Caisse d'épargne de Dijon]] (Rue des Bons-Enfants no. 8), [[Dijon]], France, by [[Arthur Chaudouet]], 1889–1890

File:3-5, Strada Icoanei, Bucharest (Romania) 1.jpg|[[Romanian Revival architecture|Romanian Revival]] door pediment of the [[Școala Centrală National College]], Bucharest, Romania, by [[Ion Mincu]], 1890

File:Masonic Temple, Crown Street, Aberdeen, first floor detail main facade, Harbourne Maclennan, Jenkins and Marr, 1910.jpg|Open pediment above an arch; Masonic Temple, [[Aberdeen]], 1910

44 Calea Călărașilor, Bucharest (12).jpg|[[Art Deco]] pediment of the Mihai Zisman House ([[Calea Călărașilor]] no. 44), Bucharest, by architect Soru, 1920
File:Louisiana State Capitol - Ad Astra (33297407125).jpg|Art Deco near-pediment of the [[Louisiana State Capitol]], 1930-1932
File:Bâtiment à l'angle du Quai Conti et de la rue Dauphine (détail).JPG|Art Deco pediment of the Carrefour Curie (Quai de Conti no. 1-3), Paris, by [[Joseph Marrast]] and [[Charles Letrosne]], 1932<ref>{{cite book|last1=Criticos|first1=Mihaela|title=Art Deco sau Modernismul Bine Temperat - Art Deco or Well-Tempered Modernism|date=2009|publisher=SIMETRIA|isbn=978-973-1872-03-2|page=192|url=|language=Romanian, English}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Postmodern reinterpretations===
[[File:Sony Building by David Shankbone crop.jpg|thumb|[[550 Madison Avenue]], New York, by [[Philip Johnson]], 1981-1984{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=203}}]]

[[Postmodernism]], a movement that questioned [[Modernism]] (the [[status quo]] after WW2), promoted the inclusion of elements of historic styles in new designs. An early text questioning Modernism was by architect [[Robert Venturi]], ''Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture'' (1966), in which he recommended a revival of the 'presence of the past' in architectural design. He tried to include in his own buildings qualities that he described as 'inclusion, inconsistency, compromise, accommodation, adaptation, superadjacency, equivalence, multiple focus, juxtaposition, or good and bad space.'<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watkin|first1=David|title=A History of Western Architecture|date=2022|publisher=Laurence King|isbn=978-1-52942-030-2|page=660|url=|language=en}}</ref> 

Venturi encouraged 'quotation', which means reusing elements of the past in new designs. Part manifesto, part architectural scrapbook accumulated over the previous decade, the book represented the vision for a new generation of architects and designers who had grown up with Modernism but who felt increasingly constrained by its perceived rigidities. Multiple Postmodern architects and designers put simplified reinterpretations of the pediment found in Classical decoration at the top of their creations. As with other elements and ornaments taken from styles of the pre-Modern past, they were in most cases highly simplified. Especially when it comes to office architecture, Postmodernism was only skin deep; the underlying structure was usually very similar, if not identical, to that of Modernist buildings.{{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=200, 203}}

In 1984 [[Philip Johnson]] designed what is now called [[550 Madison Avenue]] in New York City (formerly known as the Sony Tower, Sony Plaza, and AT&T Building), a famous work of [[Post-Modern architecture]], where a broken pediment at the top of a typical [[skyscraper]] wittily evokes a [[Thomas Chippendale]]-style [[Tallboy (furniture)|tallboy]] at a massive scale. [[Marco Polo House]] in London (1989, now demolished) was similar.

<gallery widths="170" mode="packed" heights="150">

File:Schullin Kohlmarkt 2.JPG|Schullin II jewelry boutique, [[Vienna]], Austria, by [[Hans Hollein]], 1982<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gura|first1=Judith|title=Postmodern Design Complete|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51914-1|page=98|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Amoreiras - Lisboa - Portugal (51248936123) (cropped pediments).jpg|[[Torres das Amoreiras]], Lisbon, Portugal, by [[Tomás Taveira]], 1986<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gura|first1=Judith|title=Postmodern Design Complete|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51914-1|page=98|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Pumping station, Stewart Street (geograph 4678320).jpg|The [[Isle of Dogs Pumping Station]], London, [[John Outram]], 1988<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gura|first1=Judith|title=Postmodern Design Complete|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51914-1|page=121|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Marco Polo House (brighter cropped version).jpg|[[Marco Polo House]], London, by [[Ian Pollard]], 1987-1989
</gallery>