What is fresco painting? History of Art
Fresco painting from Thera, Greece (about 1600 BC) Why are they called frescos? Fresco is the Italian word for "fresh", and that's because painters do fresco painting on fresh, wet plaster [...]
Fresco painting from Thera, Greece (about 1600 BC) Why are they called frescos? Fresco is the Italian word for "fresh", and that's because painters do fresco painting on fresh, wet plaster [...]
History of cement: An underground mithraeum in the Roman port town of Ostia History of cement Cement is a very hard kind of rock that people make themselves. People all over [...]
Roman baths of Cluny in Paris - barrel vault Making an arch into a roof Once you've built an arch, you know how to make a doorway or a window [...]
A block of tufa from Caere with an Etruscan inscription on it. Tufa (some people call it "tuff") is a kind of limestone that is very common in Italy. Tufa [...]
Is travertine marble? No. The travertine is the white stone in between the bricks (This is from the Colosseum in Rome) Is travertine marble? Travertine is a kind of sedimentary [...]
Transept of Rouen cathedral (France, 1200s AD) Transepts were part of medieval Christian churches. Most churches were shaped like a cross, to remind people about Jesus' crucifixion, and the transept [...]
A thatched roof on a mud-brick house in West Africa When did people start to thatch roofs? Most houses in ancient Europe, Asia, and Africa had thatched roofs. People have [...]
A bit of plaster left on the wall of a Punic house from Carthage People used plaster to cover the bare stone or mudbrick on the walls of houses, both [...]
Nave of Abbaye aux Dames (Caen, 1050 AD) The nave is the long narrow part of a Roman basilica or a Christian church - the part where people sit in a [...]
Mud brick drying in the sun Most houses in ancient Africa, Europe, Asia, and many in the Americas, were built out of mud brick. You take clay from the riverbank [...]