Relief carvings are artistic or ornamental carvings on some large or prominent section of a built object's facade or outer surface. Carvings may be made in high relief (strongly 3-dimensional), low relief ("bas-relief"), sunken relief, or any variation or hybrid of these.

The subject of the carvings may represent real or fictional objects; alternatively, the carvings may form an abstract or geometrical pattern, but in this case they must be extensive and somewhat artistic in nature - not simply an isolated or repeating motif.

While relief carvings may protrude from the surface to some degree, they must be aligned closely with the plane of the facade. Figurative sculptural carvings that protrude significantly away from a building's surface are classified as statuary.