Architrave

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Architrave of the left-side portal in the facade of Sant'Ambrogio basilica in Milan, Italy

Architrave in the Basilica di San Salvatore, Spoleto, Italy.

The architrave (also called epistyle) is a moulded or ornamental band framing a rectangular opening.^[1] It is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. As such, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice. The word is derived from the Greek and Latin words arche and trabs combined together to mean "main beam".^[2]

The architrave is different in the different orders. In the Tuscan, it only consists of a plain face, crowned with a fillet, and is half a module in height. In the Doric and composite, it has two faces, or fasciae; and three in the Ionic and Corinthian, in which it is 10/12 of a module high, though but half a module in the rest.^[3]

The word architrave is also used to refer to the mouldings (or other elements) framing a door, window or other rectangular opening. See also archivolt.

[edit] See also

Lintel

[edit] Footnotes

^ Ching, Francis D.K. (1995). A Visual Dictionary of Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 179, 186. ISBN 0-471-82451-3.
^ Roth, Leland M (1993). Understanding Architecture: Its Elements History and Meaning. Oxford, UK: Westview Press, 520. ISBN 0-06-430158-3.
^ This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.