Tympanum above the north entrance of Westminster Abbey
Wikimedia Commons

The tympanum is the area above the lintel of a doorway, or the base of a pedimentLow-pitched gable above a portico or façade., which is enclosed below an arch or below the segmental or triangular top of a pediment.[1]

Plain tympana were occasionally inserted to create a rectangular doorway within an arch. But tympana were essentially a decorative feature,[2] and as such they were often decorated with sculptures.[3]

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