A Lombard band is a decorative
blind arcade
A blind arcade or blank arcade is an arcade (a series of arches) that has no actual openings and that is applied to the surface of a wall as a decorative element: i.e., the arches are not windows or openings but are part of the masonry face. It is ...
, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the
Romanesque and
Gothic periods of Western
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
. It resembles a
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
of arches.
Lombard bands are believed to have been first used during the
First Romanesque period, in the early 11th century. At that time, they were the most common architectural decorative motif for facades in regions such as
Lombardy,
Aragon and
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
. Arches of early Christian buildings of Ravenna, such as the
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, have been suggested as the origin of Lombard bands.
See also
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Lombard architecture
Lombard architecture refers to the architecture of the Kingdom of the Lombards, which lasted from 568 to 774 (with residual permanence in southern Italy until the 10th–11th centuries) and which was commissioned by Lombard kings and dukes.
The ar ...
*
Lesene
A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building ...
(low-relief pillars), another Lombardic element
Similar-looking structures:
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Corbels
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Jettying
External links
An illustrated article by Peter Hubert on the developments of Lombard bands
Architectural elements
Ornaments (architecture)
Arches and vaults
Gothic architecture
Lombard architecture
Romanesque architecture
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