Lombard band

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A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually exterior, often used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of architecture.

Lombard bands are believed to have been first used during the First Romanesque Period of the early 11th Century. At that time, they were the most common architectural decorative motif for facades in Lombardy, Aragon and Catalonia. Arches of early christian buildings of Ravenna, such as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, have been suggested as the origin of Lombard bands.