---
title: "Relief"
description: "Sculpture that projects from a flat background rather than standing free, from shallow bas-relief to high relief, common on facades, monuments, and doors."
glossary: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary"
source: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/relief"
---

# Relief

> Sculpture that projects from a flat background rather than standing free, from shallow bas-relief to high relief, common on facades, monuments, and doors.

Glossary: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary  
Source: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/relief

Reliefs are the most overlooked works in civic inventories precisely because
they're attached to buildings: they get counted as architecture, or not at
all, and ownership goes murky when the building changes hands. Depression-era
public buildings are especially rich in them: friezes and carved panels
worth walking past slowly. A collection survey that looks up at façades
usually comes back longer than expected.

Related terms: [Sculpture](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/sculpture), [Monument](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/monument), [Mosaic](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/mosaic)