A portal is an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

s, or

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of simple building materials or decorated with

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

. The elements of a portal can include the

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

, tympanum, an ornamented

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

or ''trumeau'' between doors, and

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s with carvings of saints in the

westwork A westwork (german: Westwerk), forepart, avant-corps or avancorpo is the monumental, often west-facing entrance section of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church. The exterior consists of multiple stories between two towers. The interior ...

of a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

Examples

File:Baroque portal in Brescia.jpg, Baroque portal of a private palace in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

File:Dülmen, St.-Viktor-Kirche, Eingangsportal -- 2021 -- 4504-10.jpg, Wooden portal of the Church of St. Victor in

Dülmen Dülmen () is a town in the district of Coesfeld (district), Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Dülmen is situated in the south part of the Münsterland area, between the Lippe (river), Lippe river to the south, the Baumberge ...

File:Porto - Sant Martí de Cedofeita - Façana principal.JPG, Romanesque portal of the

Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita The Church of Cedofeita ( pt, Igreja de Cedofeita) is a medieval church in the civil parish of Cedofeita, municipality of Porto, in the northern Grande Porto Subregion of Portugal. The Church is a rare architectural example of a single-nave vault ...

, with nested

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es File:Hronsky Benadik-Hlavny portal klastorneho kostola.jpg, Gothic portal of the church in

Hronský Beňadik Hronský Beňadik (1920–1948: , 1948–1960: ; german: Sankt Benedikt; hu, Garamszentbenedek, until 1888: ; la, Sanctus Benedictus) is a village in central Slovakia. It has a population of 1233 (2005). According to the local tourist informatio ...

File:FI-Tampere-2019-09-08T153429EEST lc.JPG, Romantic portal of the St. John's Cathedral in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

File:Metz Cathédrale St. Étienne Portal 2.jpg, Gothic portal of the Cathedral of Saint Stephen in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

File:Karaman Hatuniye Medresi 4812.jpg, ''Taşkapı'' (stone gatehouse) of the

Hatuniye Medresesi Hatuniye Medresseh ( tr, Hatuniye Medresesi), is a historical medrese in Karaman, Turkey, built in the 14th century. The like-named Hatuniye Külliyesi in Tokat is a century younger, and refers to another woman. History Ottoman Sultan Murat Hü ...

Karaman Karaman, historically known as Laranda (Greek: Λάρανδα), is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to ...

File:Murad darvazası.JPG,

Murad's Gate , image = Eastern portal (Ichery Sheher).JPG , caption = General view of the gate , location = Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan , designer = Amirshah Tabrizi , type = Portal , material = , length = , widt ...

in the

Palace of the Shirvanshahs The Palace of the Shirvanshahs ( az, Şirvanşahlar Sarayı, fa, کاخ شروان‌شاهان) is a 15th-century palace built by the Shirvanshahs and described by UNESCO as "one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture". It is located in the ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Other uses

The term ''portal'' is also applied to the ends of a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

References

{{Authority control Doors

Examples

Other uses

See also

References