Swastika

:For the town in Ontario, see Swastika, Ontario.

Art and architecture

[[Image:Amiens-pavement-swastika.jpg|right|frame|Interlocking

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swastika design in pavement of Amiens Cathedral.]]

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The swastika is common as a design motif in current Hindu architecture and Indian artwork as well as in ancient Western architecture, frequently appearing in mosaics, friezes, and other works across the ancient world. Ancient Greek architectural designs are replete with interlinking swastika motifs. Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion. Pictish rock carvings, adorning ancient Greek pottery, and on Norse weapons and implements. It was scratched on cave walls in France seven thousand years ago.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Architecture - Mosaic - Frieze - Ancient - Ancient Greek - Cross - Triskelion - Lauburu - Pict - Pottery

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In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left and right facing swastikas joined by lines.{{ref|jaanus}} As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Korea - Japan

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The swastika symbol was found extensively in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy.

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In Greco-Roman art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.{{ref|amiens}} A border of linked swastikas was a common Roman architectural motif,{{ref|tockington}} and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the individual swastikas in such border are sometimes called Greek keys.

Related Topics:
Greco-Roman - Gothic art - Tessellation - Amiens - Meander

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The Laguna Bridge in Yuma, Arizona was built in 1905 by the U.S. Reclamation Department and is decorated with a row of swastikas.

Related Topics:
Laguna Bridge - Yuma, Arizona - 1905 - U.S.

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The Canadian artist ManWoman has attempted to rehabilitate the "gentle swastika".

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