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{{Short description|Altarpiece, or a screen or decoration behind the altar in a church}}
[[File:Altar piece Santarém May 2015-1.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Reredos depicting the [[Immaculate Conception]]. Portuguese, 17th century. Santarém, Portugal]]

A '''reredos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɪər|ˌ|d|ɒ|s|,_|ˈ|r|ɪər|ɪ|-|,_|ˈ|r|ɛ|r|ɪ|-}} {{respell|REER|dos}}, {{respell|REER|ih-}}, {{respell|RERR|ih-}}) is a large [[altarpiece]], a screen, or decoration placed behind the [[altar]] in a [[Church (building)|church]]. It often includes [[religious image]]s.

The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for example very grand carved [[chimneypiece]]s.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=om3Q5QER-UYC&pg=PA348 "Reredos"], Baca, Murtha, and Visual Resources Association, ''Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images'', 2006, American Library Association, {{ISBN|0838935648}}, 9780838935644</ref> It also refers to a simple, low stone wall placed behind a [[hearth]].

==Description==
A reredos can be made of stone, wood, metal, [[ivory]], or a combination of materials. The images may be painted, carved, [[gilded]], composed of [[mosaic]]s, and/or embedded with [[Niche (architecture)|niche]]s for [[statue]]s. Sometimes a [[tapestry]] or another fabric such as [[silk]] or [[velvet]] is used.

==Derivation and history of the term==
''Reredos'' is [[Etymology|derived]] through [[Middle English]] from the 14th-century Anglo-Norman ''areredos'', which in turn is from{{nbsp}}''arere'' 'behind' +{{nbsp}}''dos'' 'back', from [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|dorsum}}. (Despite its appearance, the first part of the word is not formed by doubling the prefix "re-", but by an archaic spelling of "rear".) In the 14th and 15th centuries the term referred generally to an open hearth of a fireplace or to a screen placed behind a table, then became nearly [[obsolete]] until it was revived in the 19th century.

==''Reredos'' vs. ''retable''==
The term ''reredos'' is sometimes confused with the term ''[[retable]]''. While a ''reredos'' generally forms or covers the wall behind an altar,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=Paul F. |title=New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRLJKonMfwQC&pg=PA404 |publisher=Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd |date=24 April 2013 |isbn=978-0-334-04932-6}}</ref> a ''retable'' is placed either on the altar or immediately behind and attached to the altar. "Many altars have both a reredos and a retable."<ref>[http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=retable&logic=AND&note=&english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300076035 ''Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online''] "Retable"</ref> But this distinction may not always be observed. The retable may have become part of the reredos when an altar was moved away from the wall. For altars that are against the wall, the retable often sits on top of the altar, at the back, particularly when there is no reredos (in which case a [[dossal]] curtain or something similar is used instead of a reredos). The retable may hold flowers and candlesticks.

In [[French language|French]] (and sometimes in [[English language|English]] by confusing the terms), a reredos is called a {{Lang|fr|retable}}; in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] a {{Lang|es|retablo}}, etc.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="160" heights="200">
File:New College Chapel Interior 2, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg| N[[New College, Oxford|ew College, Oxford]] Chapel reredos, UK[[File:Retablo mayor, Catedral de Sevilla, Sevilla, España, 2015-12-06, DD 126-128 HDR.JPG|thumb|251x251px]]
File:Retablo mayor de la Basílica del Pilar.jpg|Altar of The [[Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar]] in [[Zaragoza]]
File:Tarancon - Iglesia de Nra. Sra. de la Asuncion 3.jpg|Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, [[Tarancón]]
File:West Bromwich Holy Trinity Church reredos 01.jpg|Holy Trinity Church, West Bromwich, war memorial for World War I
File:SanJuanCapistranoGrandRetablo.jpg|The "Grand Retablo", [[Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano]]
File:Basilica Screen Cathedral Basilica St Francis Santa Fe NewMexico PA300106.jpg|Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, Santa Fe, New Mexico
File:Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu inside altar (Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City; 01-14-2023).jpg|Main altar "retablo" of the [[Basilica del Santo Niño|Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño]] in [[Cebu City]], [[Philippines]]
File:Reredos at St Mary's Church, West Rainton. By Antonio Salviati 01.JPG|Plain [[altarpiece]] painting
File:Lalique glass altarpiece in the Glass Church Jersey.jpg|Modern [[Lalique]] glass reredos, [[St Matthew's Church, Millbrook|Saint Matthew's Church]] ("the Glass Church"), Millbrook, [[Jersey]]
File:Grace Church in New York.jpg|Grace Church in New York Reredos, [[Grace Church (Manhattan)]]
File:Templo de Santa Rosa de Lima (de las Rosas) en Morelia, Michoacán (6011826833).jpg|Altarpiece and lateral reredos in the Church of Santa Rosa de Lima in [[Morelia]], Mexico, built in the late 18th century<ref>{{cite web|url=http://michoacan.travel/es/lugares/templo-de-santa-rosa-de-lima-templo-de-las-rosas.html|title=TEMPLO DE SANTA ROSA DE LIMA (TEMPLO DE LAS ROSAS)|website=michoacan.travel}}</ref>
File:Despenser Retable, Norwich Cathedral, England.jpg|[[Despenser reredos]] at [[Norwich Cathedral]], UK<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Sarah |title=Christ's Body: Identity, Culture and Society in Late Medieval Writings |date=1996 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0415144261 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YL9U3oj0WbQC |access-date=17 December 2019|page=22}}</ref>
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Altarpiece]]
* [[Iconostasis]]
* [[Retablo]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikt}}
* [http://global.britannica.com/topic/reredos "Reredos"] in the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Altarpieces]]
[[Category:Church architecture]]

Reredos - Revision history

imported>ScribeMonk: Punctuation