### pinnacle, gable, lunette
pinnacle A Gothic architectural element shaped like a small carved tower. It consists of a base, a shaft crowned by gables with tracery, and a sharp, piramidal top decorated with crockets and finials. GB gable A decorative triangular feature in Gothic architecture. It evolved from the wall that closed off each end of a saddle-roof in order to protect it from the wind (which, if allowed to penetrate the attic area, could have lifted the roof). Its German name refers to this fact, too: Wintperg, that is von dem Winde bergend, protecting from the wind. Later it was built smaller and became a decorative element. It was surrounded by a triangular, or - from the mid-14th century on - by an ogee arch frame, that was decorated with crockets, crowned by a finial, and usually flanked by two pinnacles. GB lunette The word is of Italian origin and stands for "small moon." Originally it was a decorated stone slab under the relieving arch that was inserted above the lintel of a door or a window. Preserving its original form, it later became simply a decorative tympanum above the lintel, and was often used to decorate portals, doors, altarpieces, and tabernacles. It usually had a relief decoration in the centre, framed by an entablature, which in turn was decorated with two disk-shaped volutes at the springing points of the arch and crowned by an ornament called acroterion on the top. GB