Archaeological Discoveries:
Mosaics Documenting History and Civilization of Syria
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is a technique of decorative art or interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae; but mosaics, especially floor mosaics, may also be made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called “pebble mosaics”.
Most mosaics are composed of plaster and lime floor upon which the scenes to be portrayed are drawn with special colors and paints. Basalt stones are usually used to give the black color, limestone for the white color, alabaster for red color, granite for brown and reddish brown, shells for yellow and glass for other colors. Animal bones can also be used.
Who were the first people to stumble across the technique of painting colour and glazes onto thousands of minute individual pieces of terracotta tile (called tesserae), and gluing them together to form some of the most evocative imagery ever created by man?
Archeologists have pieced together conclusive evidence that suggests that the earliest known examples of mosaics made of different materials, found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia, are dated to the second half of 3rd millennium BC. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory.
Excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. Painting with tiles as we understand it today, was not realised or practised until the times of Sassanid Empire and Roman influence.
In antiquity the Romans became the masters of this difficult and demanding technique. Executing work throughout the empire that after more than two thousand years, in locations like Rome, Ravenna, Sicily, Spain and Britain, still sing with a vibrancy of colour and design with narratives that entertain and amaze us today!
Their subject matter was as eclectic as the many locations in which you can find these works. In Sicily you can enjoy the famous mosaic, “Girls in Bikinis” at Villa Romana del Casale, from the first part of the 4th century A.D. The Irano-Roman mosaic floor in the palace at Bishapur, is from the 2nd century A.D. and is a lyrical masterpiece.
From gladiators fighting tigers, to meandering friezes of flowers and fruits, Rome’s love for pleasure and pain all found their way as subjects into the mosaics that continue to entertain us to this day. A visit to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome will have you spellbound as you admire one great Roman mosaic after the other.
By the late 4th century A.D. with the Roman Empire a quickly fading memory, the arrival of Christian basilica’s provided more walls and vaults to occupy the masters of mosaic. The earliest examples of mosaic from this period that survive in Rome can be found at the church of Santa Pudenziana (reconised as the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome and rarely open to a visitor!) and the magnificent Mausoleum of Santa Costanza which is well worth a visit.
There is a scene, in mosaic in one of the apse in the Mausoleum that portrays Christ with the ideals of law and justice. He is shown with his apostles Peter and Paul along with a few sheep representing his role as Shepherd governing and leading his flock. He is shown giving Peter the scroll representing law, with the inscription, “DOMINUS LEGEM DAT,” or “The Lord is giving the Law.”
Christ is clothed in golden robes, suggesting his power and supremacy. He is shown rising above paradise, which further shows his dominance over both heaven and earth. There is still a visual and cultural ‘hangover’ from Imperial Rome seen in the toga’s worn by both Peter and Paul!
Perhaps the greatest cycle of Christian mosaics, and some of Rome’s earliest, that still shine their magic today can be found in the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore. The oldest surviving here are hard to see but are ever present as 27 panels that meander along both sides of the nave.
They are masterworks of great individuality representing Old Testament events most vividly of Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt across the Red Sea. They were created before the Middle Ages when the language of mosaic design fell under the influence of a Byzantine narrative and dogma, as one can see in the Coronation of the Virgin, decorating the apse of the church.
It is a work of Jacopo Torriti from 1295 and whilst magnificent in scale and execution, the pre-determined style of the 12th century in church mosaic, lacks the joyous individuality of the mosaics of the nave. They have stood the passage of centuries, telling stories that still amaze and delight us today. The mosaics of Rome are testimony to many cultures and many moments in time and most of all, reminding us still that we are creatures of the stories of history and faith!
Mosaic in Syria
The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman and later the Byzantine Empires inherited a strong artistic tradition from the Late Antiquity. Similarly to Italy and Constantinople churches and important secular buildings in the region of Syria and Egypt were decorated with elaborate mosaic panels between the 5th and 8th centuries. The great majority of these works of art were later destroyed but archeological excavations unearthed many surviving examples.
Islamic architecture used mosaic technique to decorate religious buildings and palaces after the Muslim conquests of the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. In Syria and Egypt the Arabs were influenced by the great tradition of Roman and Early Christian mosaic art. During the Umayyad Dynasty mosaic making remained a flourishing art form in Islamic culture and it is continued in the art of zellige and azulejo in various parts of the Arab world, although tile was to become the main Islamic form of wall decoration.
Syria has been famous for mosaic handicraft since very ancient times as walls of the mosques, churches and palaces were decorated with mosaic paintings dating back to several historical stages. The Syrian mosaic has been always known as ‘the art of eternity’ as it passed through several prosperous stages. Syria was a gate through which mosaic handicraft spread across the world.
The original Syrian mosaic was made of marble while during the reign of the Byzantine Empire, craftsmen used molten glass. A number of professional craftsmen are trying to revive this deep-rooted Syrian art, asserting that foreign and Arab tourists are very interested in buying the unique mosaic products as there are several mosaic shops in America, Canada, Europe and Australia in addition to the Arab countries.
Mosaic is a very difficult handicraft; it needs patience and relentless work. Mosaic paintings differ according to craftsmanship and preciseness and their prices differ according to the number of pieces they consist of, pointing out that mosaic paintings are used to decorate the walls and floors of houses, hotels and worship places.
Mosaic handicraft is an important source of outcome and one of the most important handicrafts that could be further developed, particularly due to the popularity and increasing demand for mosaic by Arab and foreign tourists which caused the craft to flourish, producing captivating masterpieces of impeccable precision and beautiful design.
Another type of mosaic is wood mosaic. The main body and structure of the mosaic pieces is made of beech or walnut wood. The handicraft uses various types of colored wood to make the veneer, such as rosewood, eucalyptus, walnut, almond and lemon wood, in addition to seashells which are imported from Asia. The veneers are made by cutting square or triangular pieces of wood into thin layers that are cut into smaller pieces in various shapes and then glued on the piece’s body. Hand-crafted mosaics may take more than two months to make.
Daraa Province is a cradle of the most beautiful Mosaic paintings in southern Syria. They provide an important reference for researchers interested in Houran Region civilization in southern Syria. Shedding light on the intellectual, economic, social and cultural development in the region, the number of mosaic paintings unearthed in Daraa Province reaches 25. Most of them are bath floors or murals in churches and royal palaces from Byzantine era.
Type, place, colors and stone sizes of the discovered paintings reflect the aesthetic taste of its makers and indicate the social and economic status of its inhabitants and their living conditions in the 5th and 6th centuries. The largest mosaic painting found in Syria was discovered in the city of Nawa in Daraa Province. It covers an area of 3 m3 and 13 cm.
The floral, animal and geometrical forms reflect the attempts of its creators to portray the nature of life and environment around. Grapes, laurel and roses plants were the most depicted images while the animals included wolves, dears, horses, ducks and roosters. Other paintings portrayed aspects of traditional art and heritage of the region particularly the straw plate. In some paintings, you can note that the human element is prevailing.
The small size of stones tells about creativity of its maker whose status enables him to afford high costs. The large size of stones indicates the economic deterioration in the Byzantine era and the decline of aesthetic taste in society which negatively affect the level of creativity.
Modern mosaics
Mosaics generally went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century. Similar effects were achieved by the use of painted tilework, either geometric with small tiles, sometimes called mosaic, like the zillij of North Africa, or larger tiles painted with parts of a large decorative scheme (Qashani) in Persia, Turkey and further east.
Noted 19th-century mosaics include those by Edward Burne-Jones at St Pauls within the Walls in Rome. Another modern mosaic of note is the world’s largest mosaic installation located at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, located in St. Louis, Missouri.[23] A modern example of mosaic is the Museum of Natural History station of the New York City Subway (there are many such works of art scattered throughout the NYC subway system.)
Some modern mosaics are the work of modernisme style architects Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, for example the mosaics in the Park Güell in Barcelona. Today, among the leading figures of the mosaic world are Emma Biggs (UK), Marcelo de Melo (Brazil), Sonia King (USA) and Saimir Strati (Albania).
Mosaics have developed into a popular craft and art, and are not limited to professionals. Today’s artisans and crafters work with stone, ceramics, shells, art glass, mirror, beads, and even odd items like doll parts, pearls, or photographs. While ancient mosaics tended to be architectural, modern mosaics are found covering everything from park benches and flowerpots to guitars and bicycles. Items can be as small as an earring or as large as a house.
In styles that owe as much to videogame pixel art and popculture as to traditional mosaic, street art has seen a novel reinvention and expansion of mosaic artwork. The most prominent artist working with mosaics in street art is the French Invader. He has done almost all his work in two very distinct mosaic styles, the first of which are small “traditional” tile mosaics of 8 bit video game character, installed in cities across the globe, and the second of which are a style he refers to as “Rubikcubism”, which uses a kind of dual layer mosaic via grids of scrambled Rubik’s Cubes. Although he is the most prominent, other street and urban artists do work in Mosaic styles as well.
Portuguese pavement (in Portuguese, Calçada Portuguesa) is a kind of two-tone stone mosaic paving created in Portugal, and common throughout the Lusosphere. Most commonly taking the form of geometric patterns from the simple to the complex, it also is used to create complex pictorial mosaics in styles ranging from iconography to classicism and even modern design. In Portuguese-speaking countries, many cities have a large amount of their sidewalks and even, though far more occasionally, streets done in this mosaic form. Lisbon in particular maintains almost all walkways in this style.
Despite its prevalence and popularity throughout Portugal and its former colonies, and its relation to older art and architectural styles like Azulejo, Portuguese and Spanish painted tilework, it is a relatively young mosaic artform, its first definitive appearance in a modernly recognizable form being in the mid-1800s. Among the most commonly used stones in this style are basalt and limestone.
Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East – Wikipedia
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