Lintel

A lintel or lintol is a structural horizontal block that spans the space or opening
between two vertical supports.[1] It can be a decorative architectural element, or a
combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors,
windows and fireplaces. In the case of windows, the bottom span is instead referred
to as a sill, but, unlike a lintel, does not serve to bear a load to ensure the integrity
of the wall. Modern day lintels are made using prestressed concrete and are also
referred to as beams in beam and block slabs or ribs in rib and block slabs. These
prestressed concrete lintels and blocks are components that are packed together and
propped to form a suspended floor concrete slab.

Contents Structural lintel

Structural uses
Ornamental uses
Radiation protection
Examples gallery
See also
Notes

Structural uses
Ancient Roman Severan Basilica at
In worldwide architecture of different eras and many cultures, a lintel has been an Leptis Magna, Libya
element of post and lintel construction. Many different building materials have been
used for lintels.[1]

In classical Western architecture and construction methods, by Merriam-Webster definition, a lintel is a load-bearing member and is
placed over an entranceway.[1] Called an architrave, the lintel is a structural element that is usually rested on stone pillars or stacked
stone columns, over a portal or entranceway. An example from the Mycenaean Greece cultural period (c. 1600 – 1100 BCE) is the
Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae, Greece. It weighs 120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 × 5.2 × 1.2 m,[2] one of the largest in
the world.

A lintel may support the chimney above a fireplace, or span the distance of a path or road, forming a stone lintel bridge.

Ornamental uses
The use of the lintel form as a decorative building element over portals, with no structural function, has been employed in the
architectural traditions and styles of most cultures over the centuries.

Examples of the ornamental use of lintels are in the hypostyle halls and slab stelas in ancient Egypt and the Indian rock-cut
architecture of Buddhist temples in caves. Preceding prehistoric and subsequent Indian Buddhisttemples were wooden buildings with
structural load-bearing wood lintels across openings. The rock-cut excavated cave temples were more durable, and the non-load-
bearing carved stone lintels allowed creative ornamental uses of classical Buddhist elements. Highly skilled artisans were able to
simulate the look of wood, imitating the nuances of a wooden structure and the wood grain in excavating cave temples from
monolithic rock.[3] In freestanding Indian building examples, the Hoysala architecture tradition between the 11th and 14th centuries
produced many elaborately carved non-structural stone lintels in the Southern
Deccan Plateau region of southern India. The Hoysala Empire era was an important
period in the development of art and architecture in the South Indian Kannadigan
culture. It is remembered today primarily for its Hindu temples' mandapa, lintels,
and other architectural elements, such as at theChennakesava Temple.

The Maya civilization in the Americas was known for its sophisticated art and
monumental architecture. The Mayan city ofYaxchilan, on the Usumacinta River in
present-day southern Mexico, specialized in the stone carving of ornamental lintel
elements within structural stone lintels. The earliest carved lintels were created in Ornamental carved lintel over
723 CE. At the Yaxchilan archaeological site there are fifty-eight lintels with Mandapa entrance at Chennakesava
decorative pieces spanning the doorways of major structures. Among the finest Temple, in the Hoysala architecture
tradition of southern India
Mayan carving to be excavated are three temple door lintels that feature narrative
[4]
scenes of a queen celebrating the king's anointing by a god.

Radiation protection
Lintels may also be used to reduce scattered radiation in medical applications. For example, Medical linacs operating at high energies
will produce activated neutrons which will be scattered outside the treatment bunker maze with a dose rate that depends on the maze
cross section. Lintels may be visible or recessed in the roof of the facility, and reduce dose rate in publicly accessible areas by
reducing the maze cross section.[5]

Examples gallery
Structural lintel over The lintel stone at the The lintel stone at the Structural lintel over the
entrance, Treasury of Treasury of Atreus Treasury of Atreus entry to main Buddhist
Atreus, Mycenae, (external view) (internal view) shrine, Phimai historical
Greece park, Thailand

Shebna Inscription on a Structural lintel with a Non-structural Mayan Non-structural decorative

lintel of a tomb cave near lauburu and founders' ornamental lintel stone, lintel at Buddhist Banteay
Jerusalem, 8th/7th names, above traditional from the Yaxchilan city Srei, in Cambodia
century BCE Basque houses in Lower site in Chiapas, southern
Navarre, Spain Mexico. (Late Classic
period, 600-900 CE).
Non-structural lintel in Door lintel in Bozen- Non-structural marriage One of many 16th
Buddhist cave temple at Bolzano from 1632 with stone lintel at 'The Hill' century door lintels in
Ellora Caves, India Elias Tagger's coat of farm, Dunlop, East Edinburgh's Old Town
arms, South Tyrol, Italy Ayrshire, Scotland

Simonsbath House, Lintel above the entrance

Simonsbath, Exmoor to Jagdschloss
Parish, Devon. Wooden Grunewald, Germany.
lintel over kitchen
fireplace with carved
date of 1654.

See also
Architrave – structural lintel or beam resting on columns-pillars
Atalburu – Basque decorative lintel
Dolmen – prehistoric megalithic tombs with structural stone lintels
Dougong – traditional Chinese structural element
I-beam – steel lintels and beams
Marriage stone – decorative (can be structural) lintel
Post and lintel architecture system
Span (architecture)

Notes
1. "Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture - Lintel"(http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/lintel.htm). University
of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
2. Dodwell, Edward (1819).A Classical and Topographical Tour Through Greece: During the Years. Rodwelland Martin.
3. Keay, John (2000). India: A History. New York: Grove Press. pp. 124–127.ISBN 978-0-8021-3797-5.
4. Simon Martin; Nikolai Grube (2000).Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
pp. 117, 125. ISBN 978-0-500-05103-0.
5. Morgan, Helen (2006). "NCRP Report 151 Structural shielding design and evaluation for megavoltage x-and
gamma-ray radiotherapy facilities".Journal of Radiological Protection. 26 (3): 349. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/26/3/B01
(https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0952-4746%2F26%2F3%2FB01) .
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