Meaning of Reredos | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.
2. The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls and in some later architecture inspired by them.

Equivalents

Examples

“Near-synonym: retable (often synonymous)”

“A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen⟳ the offensiveness of its badness.”

“Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have⟳ shown through the succeeding coats of paint⟳ across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.”

“There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number⟳ of examples in stone.”

CEFR level