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Monday, January 18, 2010

One Tympanum, Two Tympana

"tympanum"
Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh

"tympanum : (plural, tympana): The basically semicircular area enclosed by the arch above the lintel of an arched entranceway. This area is often decorated with sculpture in the Romanesque and Gothic periods."

Don't get the wrong idea: Tympana aren't just in Medieval European cathedrals.

A case in point:

"History Of Indian Architecture"
Indianetzone ("Largest Free Encyclopedia of India with thousand of articles"), Indian Monuments

"...The architectural carving of the façade [façade, I think] of the Lomas Rishi cave is completely Indian. It is an imitation in relief sculpture in stone of the entrance of a freestanding structure in wood and thatch, with the sloping jambs of the doorway supporting a tympanum of repeated crescent shapes under an ogee arch that presumably represents the profile of the thatched roof...."

So More Than One Tympanum are a Bunch of Tympana: So What?

None of this will help you get that mat of hair and gunk out of the shower drain, or make julienne fries.

On the other hand, I'm interested in architecture (and quite a few other things, from aardvarks and how Christmas Trees, Queen Victoria, And Coleridge are connected, to incendiary LED lights and quantum astronomy).

Maybe you are, too. Interested in architecture, I mean. If so, the links in this post may take you somewhere you haven't been before.

If so, enjoy the trip.

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