Mosaic

:This article is about a decorative art. See Mosaic (disambiguation) for other meanings.

Uses of mosaic

Mosaic was used across the ancient world for domestic interior decoration. Mosaics of the 4th century BC are found in the Macedonian palace-city of Aegina and they enriched the floors of Hellenistic villas, but mosaic floors are particularly associated with Roman dwellings, from Britain (illustration, right) to Dura-Europas. Splendid mosaic floors distinguished luxurious Roman villas across north Africa. In Rome, Nero and his architects innovated the extension of refined mosaics to cover the surfaces of wall and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 CE.

Related Topics:
4th century BC - Aegina - Hellenistic - Villa - Roman - Dura-Europas - Domus Aurea - 64

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When Christian basilicas began to be purpose-built in the late 4th century, wall and ceiling mosaics were adapted to Christian uses. The greatest development of Christian mosaics unfolded in the Byzantine empire including its outpost the Exarchate of Ravenna and its territories in Sicily, and in its late rival Venice, where mosaic encrusts the exterior and interior of St Mark's. In Western Europe, the demanding techniques of fresco replaced the even more labor-intensive techniques of mosaic.

Related Topics:
Basilica - 4th century - Byzantine empire - Exarchate of Ravenna - Sicily - Venice - St Mark's

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Islamic architecture was the next inheritor of this technique. The intricate geometric designs used to decorate buildings in the Islamic world are often produced as mosaics. The process is known as zillij in North Africa and qashani further east. Some of the best examples of Islamic mosaics were produced in Moorish Spain and are still visible at the Alhambra. The craft has continued through the ages, also popular in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and extending to Russia, where Moscow claimed to succeed Constantinople as the "Third Rome."

Related Topics:
Islamic architecture - Zillij - North Africa - Qashani - Moorish - Spain - Alhambra - Eastern Orthodox

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Many modern examples of mosaic exist, such as those of the Museum of Natural History station of the New York Subway. M.C. Escher was influenced by Moorish mosaics to begin his investigations into mathematical properties called tessellation.

Related Topics:
Museum of Natural History - New York Subway - M.C. Escher - Tessellation

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Some spectacular and innovative modern mosaics were the work of modernisme style architects Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, like the unique mosaics in the Park Güell in Barcelona.

Related Topics:
Modernisme - Antoni Gaudí - Josep Maria Jujol - Park Güell - Barcelona

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After the 1991 Gulf War a mosaic of the American President George Bush, sr. was placed in the lobby of the Al-Rashid Hotel in central Baghdad to be used as a sort of doormat as the sole of the shoe is considered unclean in Islamic countries and the act of walking on the mosaic is seen as an insult to George Bush. When American troops took the city in the 2003 invasion of Iraq the mosaic was replaced with one of Saddam Hussein.

Related Topics:
Gulf War - George Bush, sr. - Al-Rashid Hotel - Baghdad - Islamic - 2003 invasion of Iraq - Saddam Hussein

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