Frieze - Definition and Overview

Frieze of the Tower of the Winds.

In architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain or — in the Ionic or Corinthian order — decorated with bas-reliefs. It lies upon the architrave ('main beam') and is capped by the moldings of the cornice.

In a looser sense, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the picture rail under the crown moldings or cornice. By extension, a frieze is a long band of painted or modelled decoration in such a position, above eye-level.

The octagonal Tower of the Winds in the Roman agora at Athens bears sculptures of the eight winds on its frieze.

This concept has been generalized in the mathematical construction of Frieze patterns.