View source for Discharging arch

[[Image:Lintel and discharging arch, minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan.jpg|thumb|Discharging arch of the door of the minaret in the [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]], also called the Mosque of Uqba, in [[Tunisia]].]]

A '''discharging arch''' or '''relieving arch''' is an [[arch]] built over a [[lintel (architecture)|lintel]] or [[architrave]] to take off the superincumbent weight.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=311}}

==History==
The earliest example is found in the [[Great Pyramid of Giza|Great Pyramid]], over the lintels of the entrance passage to the tomb: it consisted of two stones only, resting one against the other. The same object was attained in the [[Lion Gate]] and the [[Treasury of Atreus]], both in [[Mycenae]], and in other examples in [[Greece]], where the stones laid in horizontal courses, one projecting over the other, left a triangular hollow space above the lintel of the door, which was subsequently filled in by vertical sculptured stone panels.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=311}}

The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] frequently employed the discharging arch, and inside the portico of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] the architraves have such arches over them. In the Golden Gateway of the [[palace of Diocletian]] at [[Split (city)|Split]] the discharging arches, semicircular in form, were adopted as architectural features and decorated with [[Molding (decorative)|moulding]]s. The same is found in the [[synagogue]]s in [[Syria Palaestina|Palestine]] of the 2nd century; and later, in [[Byzantine architecture]], these moulded [[archivolt]]s above an architrave constitute one of the characteristics of the style. In the early [[Christianity|Christian]] churches in Rome, where a [[colonnade]] divided off the [[nave]] and aisles, discharging arches are turned in the [[frieze]] just above the architraves.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=311}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Pantheon.drawing.jpg|Cross section of the Pantheon showing the discharging arch on the right side
Image:Relieving Arch.jpg|Example of relieving arch at [[Greenknowe Tower]]
Image:Clos_luce_05.jpg|Discharging arch above fireplace in the chamber of [[Leonardo da Vinci]] at the [[Clos Lucé|Château du Clos Lucé]]
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Discharging Arch|volume=8|page=311}}

==Further reading==
* {{wikisource-inline|Dictionary of French Architecture from the 11th to 16th Century - Volume 1, Discharging arch|Discharging arch}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{Commonscat|Discharging arches}}
[[Category:Arches and vaults]]
[[Category:Pantheon, Rome]]
[[Category:Great Pyramid of Giza]]