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Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by .Summerson, 130 In ancient architecture, a wide and low triangular pediment (the side angles 12.5° to 16°) typically formed the top element of the portico of a Greek temple, a style continued in . But large pediments were rare on other types of building before Renaissance architecture.Summerson, 28 For symmetric designs, it provides a center point and is often used to add grandness to entrances.
The cornice continues round the top of the pediment, as well as below it; the rising sides are often called the "raking cornice".Or "slanting cornice" by Lawrence, xxx & xxxi The tympanum is the triangular area within the pediment, which is often decorated with a pedimental sculpture which may be freestanding or a relief sculpture. The tympanum may hold an inscription, or in modern times, a clock face.
The main variant shapes are the "segmental", "curved", or "arch" pediment, where the straight line triangle of the cornice is replaced by a curve making a segment of a circle, the broken pediment where the cornice has a gap at the apex, and the open pediment, with a gap in the cornice along the base. Both triangular and segmental pediments can have "broken" and "open" forms.
Pediments are found in ancient Greek architecture as early as 580 BC, in the archaic Temple of Artemis, Corfu, which was probably one of the first.Lawrence, 113-114 Pediments return in Renaissance architecture and are then much used in later styles such as Baroque, Neoclassical, and Beaux-Arts architecture, which favoured the segmental variant.
All these forms were used in Hellenistic architecture, especially in Alexandria and the Middle East. The so-called "Treasury" or Al-Khazneh, a 1st-century rock-cut tomb in Petra, Jordan, is a famously extreme example, with not merely the pediment, but the whole entablature, very "broken" and retreating into the cliff face.Furman Broken pediments where the gap is extremely wide in this way are often called "half-pediments".
They were adopted in Mannerist architecture, and applied to furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale. Another variant is the swan's neck pediment, a broken pediment with two S-shaped profiles resembling a swan's neck, typically ; this is mostly found in furniture rather than buildings. It was popular in American doorways from the 1760s onwards. Very often there is a vase-like ornament in the middle, between the volutes. Non-triangular variations of pediments are often found over doors, windows, niches, and porches.
The most famous example of the Greek scheme is the Parthenon, with two tympanums filled with large groups of sculpted figures. An extreme but very influential example of the Roman style is the Pantheon, Rome, where a portico with pediment fronts a circular temple.Summerson, 25, 39
In ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and later architectural revivals, small pediments are a non-structural element over , , and , 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.Lawrence, 190, Plate 95B
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 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 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 trabeated architecture remains rather disconcerting.Favro, Diane, entry in the Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology, p. 65, 2015, ed. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781134268542, google books
Conventional Roman pediments have a slightly steeper pitch than classical Greek ones, perhaps because they ended tiled roofs that received heavier rainfall.
Горгона артеміда.jpg|Ancient Greek west pediment of the Temple of Artemis in Corfu, 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, unknown architect, 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, 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, Greece, including its pediment, unknown architect or illustrator, 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, including its pediment, showing the polychromy all ancient sculptures and buildings had, unknown architect, illustrated by 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 Stuart and Nicholas Revett in 1794
File:Arco d´Augusto Rimini.JPG|Roman pediment of the Arch of Augustus, Rimini, 27 BC
File:Celsus library in Ephesus (5631574095).jpg|Roman mascaron with in a segmental pediment of the Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey, unknown architect, 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 pediment on the Missorium of Theodosius I, 388, silver, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain (2025). 9780714848105, Phaidon. ISBN 9780714848105
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 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.Yarwood, 312-314; Summerson, 78-79
Sant'Agostino also has a low, squashed down pediment at the top of the full-width section.Charles Herbert Moore, Character of Renaissance Architecture, 74, 1905 This theme was developed by Andrea Palladio in the next century. The main facade of his 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.Summerson, illus 41 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. 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.Charles Herbert Moore, Character of Renaissance Architecture, 109-110, 1905
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.Summerson, 78-79 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". 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.
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, 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
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 , , law courts, legislatures, and museums, where an impression of solidity, reliability, and respectability was desired.
File:Petit Trianon - Belvédère 2012.jpg|Louis XVI style pediment of the Belvédère, part of the Petit Trianon, by Richard Mique, completed in 1781
File:Église St Vincent Paul Paris 6.jpg|Neoclassical pediment of the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, 1830–1846
File:Fontaine St Michel Paris 2.jpg|Baroque Revival pediment of the italic=no, Paris, by Gabriel Davioud, 1858
File:Détail façade principale Palais Garnier Paris 13.jpg|Beaux-Arts pediment with sculptures on the facade of the italic=no, Paris, by Charles Garnier, 1861–1874
File:Berlín, Antigua Galería Nacional 1.jpg|Neoclassical pediment of the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany, by Friedrich August Stüler and Heinrich Strack, 1865–1869
File:Lyon 6e - Boulevard des Belges, entrée du musée Guimet.jpg|Neoclassical pediment with acroterion of a door of the Musée d'histoire naturelle - Guimet, Lyon, France, by Jules Chatron, 1879
Hôtel Caisse Épargne - Dijon (FR21) - 2022-04-16 - 6.jpg|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 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 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
(2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
(2025). 9780500022368, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500022368
(2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
(2025). 9789731872032, SIMETRIA. ISBN 9789731872032
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.
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 at a massive scale. Marco Polo House in London (1989, now demolished) was similar.
File:Schullin Kohlmarkt 2.JPG|Schullin II jewelry boutique, Vienna, Austria, by Hans Hollein, 1982 (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
Amoreiras - Lisboa - Portugal (51248936123) (cropped pediments).jpg|Torres das Amoreiras, Lisbon, Portugal, by Tomás Taveira, 1986
Pumping station, Stewart Street (geograph 4678320).jpg|The Isle of Dogs Pumping Station, London, John Outram, 1988 (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
Marco Polo House (brighter cropped version).jpg|Marco Polo House, London, by Ian Pollard, 1987-1989
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