Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Transverse rib: A rib spanning between two walls to divide a rib-vault into bays.
Tread: Horizontal part of a step. The tread end may be carved on a staircase.
Trefoil: A three-lobed opening.
Trenched purlins: Purlins (horizontal longitudinal timbers in a roof structure) which are trenched into the backs of the principals.
Triforium: Middle storey of a church interior treated as an arcaded wall passage or blind arcade, its height corresponding to that of the aisle roof.
Triglyphs: (lit. three-grooved tablets): Stylized beam-ends in a Doric frieze, with metopes between.
Triquetra: A symbolic figure in the form of a three-cornered knot of interlaced arcs, common in Celtic art. Compare terquetra.
Triumphal arch: Wiltshire
Influential type of Roman Imperial monument, free-standing, with a square attic or top section and broad sections to either side of the main opening, often with lesser openings or columns.
Trivallate: Of a hill-fort: defended by three concentric banks and ditches.
Trompe l’oeil: (French, lit. trick the eye): Two-dimensional painting or decoration in which objects are represented three-dimensionally.