The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link
of Past Civilizations
Fulvio Zezza
Contents
3.1 Lecture...............................................................................................................................................
References...................................................................................................................................................
3.1 Lecture
The topics on the historical, technological, and structural
features of monuments penetrate the cultures of the
Mediterranean belt down to their roots. Certainly, the
remarkable scientific interest encourages research to fur-
ther knowledge, bearing in mind that a holistic approach
to conservation can make sense only when techniques,
skills, environment, and beneficiaries are analyzed along
with the properties, the behavior, and the value of building
materials. Indeed, the use of monument stones reflects pur-
poses, ideologies, and symbolisms referable to different tra-
ditions, thus determining the intrinsic value, both historical
and cultural, of each monument.
The etymology of the word monument comes from the
Latin monere which means to remember. Each monument
whets the emotional component of memory (Fig. 3.1) and
sends a message which exceeds the threshold of emotion:
the use of the stone belongs to the history of civilizations,
one after another influenced through the appealing and the
assimilation. Besides the intrinsic value of the stone linked
to the use cannot possibly be ignored, this element cannot
be considered of secondary significance within a holistic
approach to conservation.
The research has clarified the architectural devising of
the past, its influence on the artistic language, as well as the
relationship with ancient tradition. Nevertheless, some fun-
damental problems concerning the use tendencies in differ-
F. Zezza (*)
Dipartimento di Architettura Costruzione,
Università Iuav di Venezia, Venezia, Italy
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
M. Koui et al. (eds.), 10th International Symposium on the Conservation of Monuments
in the Mediterranean Basin, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78093-1_3
3
17
28
ent historical periods, above all as regards ornamental
stones, are still extant. The argument is too complex and
requires systematic analyses of interdisciplinary character.
In time, stone has carried out both the role of building
material and that of decoration. The stones employed in
monuments are different in composition and variety. Their
place of origin corresponds, almost always, with the site
where a monument is located, but the ornamental stones
come from far away (Fig. 3.2). In different sites the avail-
ability of building materials and the capability of crafts-
men have favored constructions in harmony with their
characteristic styles and traditions. In this regard, Vitruvio
in his De Architectura (1st Book) wrote: “where square
blocks are available, or flint, or cut stones, there will be the
material to realize….” This statement has proved its worth
throughout the centuries, if we consider the monumental
heritage built both in the Eastern and in the Western
Mediterranean using the local stone resources.
History tells us that, in ancient times, peculiar stones
were selected for monument and transported from a long
distance [1]: the white marble of Paros and Naxos, compact
and pure, symbol of firmness and nobility in ancient Greece,
and the granite of Siene (Aswan) red in color considered, in
the ancient Egypt, right for the icon of the divine ancestry
of the pharaohs descending from Ra, the god-sun creator of
the world. However, the ancient monuments of the Greece
reveal also that, above all, the white marble employed
comes from the quarries quite near to the sites [2]. For
instance, the Acropolis of Athens was built using the
Pentelic marble quarried in the homonymous mountain at a
distance of 20 Km, while the Temple of Poseidon, at Cape
Sounion, was built using the Agrileza marble quarried 5
Km away. Moreover, the stones of other famous temples,
17
18
Fig. 3.1 The Temple of
Poseidon at Cape Sounion
Fig. 3.2 (a, b, c, d) In antiquity the building materials and the ornamental stones come, almost always, respectively, from local outcrops or far
from away
such as those of the Peloponnese, were different from the
marble: the Temple of Olympia and that of Nemea, dedi-
cated to Zeus, were built with the local poros, while for the
Temple of Vasses, dedicated to Apollo Epicourios by the
inhabitants of the ancient Phigalia in the fifth century BC,
were used blocks of limestone that come from nearby
(Figs. 3.3 and 3.4).
F. Zezza
In turn, the monuments of ancient Egypt confirm that red-­
pink granite for the obelisks raised in front of the temples
dedicated to god Ra was transported from the quarries of
Siene; however, the pyramids were built with local stone, the
limestone with Nummulites, quarried in the Giza plain, as
well as the local outcrops of limestone supplied the building
material for the temples of Luxor and Karnak (Fig. 3.5).
3 The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link of Past Civilizations
Figs. 3.3 and 3.4 In ancient Greece the white marble and the poros or
the limestone to build the temples come from quarries quite near to the
sites. The Temples of Athena Parthenon and Poseidon in marble at the
In general, in order to simplify the link between monu-
ments and local stones, it is possible to mention the numer-
ous examples registered in Iberia and Italy where have been
used cyclopean blocks such as those in Greece for the forti-
fied cities of Mycenae, Epidaurus, Tiryns, and Argos and in
Mediterranean great islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta, Crete,
and Cyprus (Fig. 3.6). Therefore, a close relationship
between the material employed and geology of the sites
reinforces the concept of ancient constructions as products
of local stone resources. It seems even truer as far as possi-
ble remote is the epoch of the monument.
Already, during the Middle Ages and also in modern
times, stones coming from regional quarries were used to
build castles and churches, monasteries and abbeys, and
19
Acropolis and Cape Sounion (Fig. 3.3; the Temples of Zeus and Apollo
Epicourios, respectively, in poros and limestone, at Nemea and
Vasses – Fig. 3.4)
fortresses and walls although local stones frequently
appear. In this regard, the guard towers built in the sixteenth
to seventeenth centuries along the Mediterranean coast
appear to be emblematic. Interesting examples are still
extant along the coasts of Spain and Italy. The towers of
Andalusia, built according to the ancient drawings of
Cristobal de Rojas (1613), present between San Roche,
near Gibraltar, and Castell de Ferro-Adra an alternative
employment of sandstone blocks, schist slabs, and dolo-
mitic blocks. On the other hand, there is a close link
between the outcrops which are located in the Adriatic
coast of Apulia (Italy) and consist of stones such as lime-
stones and calcarenites of different ages (Cretaceous,
Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene) [3] (Fig. 3.7).
20 F. Zezza

Fig. 3.5 The stone of the most famous monuments of the ancient Egypt sited in the Giza plain and at Luxor was of a local provenance

Fig. 3.6 The archeological sites reveal a close relation between local stone resources and building materials
3 The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link of Past Civilizations
Fig. 3.7 The block building of the guard towers of the Mediterranean belt shown an emblematic relation with the local geology
Still more complex is the reading of marbles and orna-
mental stones which was imported through long-distance
trade. The selection criteria in the choice of the colored
marbles depended on the symbolic significance in coher-
ence with political and religious circumstances. In this field,
methodological researches are needed in order to settle the
employment of colored marbles in an organic way, as
regards both the marble of the architectonic elements and
the varieties of representative conventions according with
the use tendencies in different cultural and geographic
contexts.
Also in this case, history tells us that, like as the
Hellenistic Egypt dominated by the Ptolemies, the taste for
colored marble was expressed in a richer way in Rome,
allowed to use the marbles quarried in all the conquered ter-
ritories. The marbles of the imperial quarries were traded
also in all the most important centers of the empire. Their
great value depended on the color and rarity; also, the costs
derived from quarrying difficulties and transport. The most
precious marbles became the symbol of wealth and power.
Truly, the archeological remains testify that, since ancient
times, the greatly valued manufactured items in marble and
rare materials had represented a real status symbol. As indi-
21
cated by the seals of lower Mesopotamia which go back to
the third millennium BC, from the historical period known
as Jended Nosr (3300–3100 BC) to the Early Dynastic
period (2600–2450 BC), marble and pietre dure (semipre-
cious stones) are mostly imported through long-distance
trade.
The semiprecious stones, such as lapis lazuli, quartz,
serpentine, diorite, agate, alabaster, hematite, and steatite,
used to make seals, came from geological deposits found in
sites at long distance (Fig. 3.8).
Roman eximii lapides mainly in demand were the red
porphyry (lapis porphirites) and the red granite (pyrropoec-
ylus) with the green marbles characterized by a brecciated
structure (marmor thessalicum, lapis hecatontaalithos) or a
porphyritic texture (lapis lacedaemonius). Other marbles
greatly in demand were the ones with green and white wav-
ing bands (marmor caristium) or with red bands (marmor
parium) or with oriented red and white scrubs (marmor
phrygium). Much in demand among granites was the gray in
color coming from the ancient Roman quarries exploited in
Egypt (marmor claudianum) and the ones coming from
Anatolia (marmor troadense, marmor misium). Moreover,
other requested marbles belong to variegated types, like
22
Fig. 3.8 Semiprecious stones
mostly imported through
long-distance trade in lower
Mesopotamia for seals which
go back to the third
millennium BC
Fig. 3.9 Colored marbles
quarried by the Romans,
reemployed in Byzantine time
and reused by the Venetians
and the Ottomans
those exploited in Greece (marmor chium, marmor chal-
cidicum) and in Turkey (marmor sagarium, breccia coral-
lina) [4]. A conglomerate with variegated pebbles (Hereke
pudding) came from the outcrops exploited in Turkey as
well as the white marble quarried in the Marmara island
(marmor proconnesium) while the white and black brecci-
ated marble (marmor celticum) was quarried in the Pyrenees
region of France (Fig. 3.9).
It is important to note that Rome, the center of the
Empire, operated on the diffusion in the Mediterranean
area of marbles and ornamental stones quarried in all the
conquered territories. The tradition to continue in the
use of the same ancient marbles in the Mediterranean
centers has persisted even in the presence of different
civilizations. Also after the end of the Empire, there was
an uninterrupted exchange between the Occident and the
Orient. Rome itself, which knew the renovatio phases
F. Zezza
during the Medieval and Renaissance periods, was inter-
ested by the phenomenon of the reemployment of mar-
bles at the expense of its ancient buildings and the
demolition of its temples.
A reading of an historic route out of Rome regarding the
reuse of the ancient marbles is offered by two historic cities
which makes explicit this recovery culture in different
chronological and geographical contexts. The two historic
cities, the today’s Istanbul and Venice (Fig. 3.10), boast
after Rome, the highest quantity of the most precious mar-
bles of antiquity. Venice is not only a surprising city for trav-
elers and visitors; its monuments are the background of the
accommodation facilities, and, of course, the most famous
monument is St. Mark’s Basilica.
Venice is the emblem of the cultural relations between
Occident and Orient. According to the ancient tales quoted
by Homer, the Venetians descend from the Eneti, and Strabo,
3 The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link of Past Civilizations
Fig. 3.10 Venice, the
bridgehead to the Orient, and
Istanbul on the Bosphorus
in his Geographica, says they were driven up from
Paphlagonia by the hero Antenor, who was a Trojan, just
like Aeneas, the mythical progenitor of Rome [5]. The
Venetians shared with the Ottoman the colored marbles of
the Roman-Byzantine period. Istanbul, once Byzantium,
Constantinople, and Konstantinyie, has witnessed the his-
tory of civilization on the Bosphorus, rightly called the
“original history channel” being the meeting place of
Europe and Asia and a “bridge” between cultures and
religions.
The splendor of Constantinople was enhanced by roman
the marbles: from Constantine (fourth century) to Justinian
(sixth century), the city was supplied with marbles coming
from temples and ancient quarries exploited in all the terri-
tories of the wide empire, from Asia Minor to Egypt,
Tunisia, Algeria, Iberia, France, Italy, and Greece [6].
During the Byzantine Empire, the ancient marbles contin-
ued to be reemployed, up to the fourteenth to fifteenth cen-
turies (Fig. 3.11).
As regards the monuments of today Istanbul, in the
Occident the churches of the eastern Mediterranean area as
well as the domed mosques were commonly deemed to rep-
resent the apex of architectural values. Over the centuries,
in spite of the distance and of their own identity values, the
two cities have developed their own different traditions to
produce artistic and architectonic models as total autono-
mous expression reusing the same types of ancient colored
marbles. The results of a systematic research I am carrying out
on the marbles of the Byzantine churches and the mosques
of Istanbul enable us to outline briefly, in a preliminary
way, the reuse of Roman spolia, conditioned by different
ideological finalities and economic disposals (Figs. 3.12–
23
3.15). Since the time of Constantine, the selection of
marbles, even if it was still linked to the aspirations of
ancient tradition, followed the changed cultural choices.
On the inside of churches, columns of different varieties
were used, and their colors were utilized to emphasize litur-
gical spaces. The archeological remains of the Theodosian
St. Sophia testify the great variety of the many-colored
marbles employed: columns in red (porphyrites and
Egyptian red granite), cipollino verde (marmor caristium)
and Egyptian gray granite, and trabeations in Hereke pud-
ding and festoons in white Pentelic marble. A further selec-
tion, addressed to green marble, is registered in the fifth
century, when verde antico (marmor thessalicum) was used
in the churches for the colonnades oriented toward the altar.
In this respect, the columns and the remains of the church
of St. John of Studios are emblematic as well as the verde
antico belonging to the church of St. Andreas in Krysis,
which was later employed to build the nearest Ottoman
mausoleums. The evidence to utilize the marble not only in
decorative way but such as symbol of the imperial majesty
and religious liturgy is in the church of St. Sophia, rebuilt
by Justinian in the sixth century. Other byzantine churches
never reached the wealth of the marble varieties and of the
refined, richly decorated masonry hanging around the lofty
porphyry columns symbol of the imperial power and the
verde antico ones leading to the altar. The splendor of the
Justinian epoch architecture was implemented by the use of
shafts of pavonazzetto antico (marmor phrygium) in asso-
ciation with verde antico, well exposed in the church of Sts.
Sergius and Bacchus.
Around the eighth to ninth centuries, when a return to
ancient tradition is registered, the occhio di pavone rosso
24
Fig. 3.11 Byzantine Constantinople, fourteenth century
(marmor sagarium) was rediscovered and comes into the
selection of the most precious marbles. In ancient times
and in paleo-Christian epoch, this marble was the symbol
of immortality. The transversal sections of its white fossils
(rudist bivalves), immersed in the red matrix, remind of
the shape of a peacock’s eye, the bird just the symbol of
immortality in accordance with the ancient beliefs. In the
medium Byzantine period, between the ninth and the thir-
teenth centuries, the employment of colored marbles
acquires a new symbolic attribution, in harmony with the
religious precepts. This attribution will last until the mid-
dle of the fifteenth century, coinciding with the (1453) and
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and the final fall of
the Byzantine Empire. As to the color and the textural-
structural qualities of marble, they acquired totally differ-
ent characteristics, if compared to the past. On this matter,
the remains of the marble revetment indoors and the col-
umns of the old Byzantine church of Theotokos Kyriotissa,
today Kalenderhane Camii, are aneloquent evidence.
Among the most recurrent ones, red, which was once the
symbol of imperial power, refers now to the resurrection of
Christ, while black refers to the deposition from the cross
and death and mourning. White, with green bands, stands
for the wood of the cross; white with red veins or red with
F. Zezza
white spots stands for the blood and bones of Christian
martyrs. White is moreover the symbol of pure Orthodox
faith, while green is linked to the hope of reaching para-
dise [7].
Through the centuries, the Byzantines continued collect-
ing Roman spolia up to the Fourth Crusade. The fall of
Constantinople and the birth of the temporary Latin Empire
(1204–1261) allowed Venice to despoil the churches and the
palaces of the city and to transport, as spoils of war, the
Roman marbles which were then reused in the architectural
decoration of St. Mark’s Basilica (Fig. 3.16). In time, other
monuments and Venetian palaces made use of a huge quan-
tity of the recovered spolia.
It is certainly possible to recognize, in the use of the pre-
cious colored marbles in St. Mark’s Basilica, a sign of devotion
to the patron saint, but the wealth of the monumental complex
suggests, above all, the intention of the Venetians to express the
power of the seafaring Republic Venice, when erecting St.
Mark’s, was inspired by the churches of Constantinople and
also by the Byzantine churches which were the models for the
harmonious decorative program carried out indoors, and to
complete the arrangement, outdoors, of the columns, which
followed the Tardo Antico rules as to the harmony of the color
accordance and the axial order of the shafts.
3 The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link of Past Civilizations
Figs. 3.12–3.15 The remains of the Theodosian St. Sophia testify the
great variety of roman marbles employed during the fourth century in
the churches as symbol of the imperial power (Fig. 3.12). In the fifth
century, the colonnades toward the altar were in green marble (marmor
thessalicum) reused by the Ottomans for mosques and mausoleums
(Fig. 3.13). In the epoch of Justinian (sixth century), the color of the
marble architectonic elements in St. Sophia was red (lapis porphyrites)
Fig. 3.16 Venice, the colored marbles columns of St. Mark’s Basilica
25
and green (marmor thessalicum) implemented by the use of the pavon-
azzetto antico (marmor phrygium) in the church of Sts. Sergio and
Bacchus (Fig. 3.14). Since medium Byzantine period, the color of the
most precious imperial marbles becomes the emblem of the religious
creed as shown in Theotokos Kyriotissa, at present Kalenderhane Camii
(Fig. 3.15)
26
Fig. 3.17 The Ottoman
Konstantinyie, fifteenth
century
The Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople, in the year
1453, leads to the transformation of the city so that several
Byzantine churches were destroyed or adapted as mosques,
Fig. 3.17. In the meantime, the tendency to use Roman-­
Byzantine marbles for architectural structures was not only
rediscovered but also strengthened in compliance with the
orders of the Sultan Mehmed II. Also in this case the recov-
ery of ancient colored marbles served to emphasize the
power of the Ottoman Empire, which was taking the place
of ancient Rome. The marbles coming from the churches of
Constantinople and from the temples of the ­Roman-­Byzantine
territories adorned palaces and mosques. All the Sultan’s
mosques, indeed, as well as those of princes, governors and
emirs, employed ornamental stones and marble columns
belonging to ancient Roman marbles.
The reading of the historical path outlined so far is mean-
ingful: ancient marbles played a leading role both in the
Roman-Byzantine Constantinople and the Ottoman
Konstantinyie and in Venice since the reuse of such materi-
als was a common attitude shared by architects and artists.
Even if a feeling of admiration for ancient marbles has
always been influenced by political or religious purposes,
they have always been a tool to express the cultural imagery
of architectural structures as well as decorative plans. In this
regard, the use of ancient marbles over the centuries allows
us to grasp the meaning of an innermost message, less sim-
ple to read and interpret, which requires almost two types of
considerations.
The first one concerning the common identification mark
translates into a general appreciation of the intrinsic value of
marble; the second one, strictly related to the first, referred
to the intrinsic value of marble, a concept which was assimi-
lated and conveyed to one another by artists and architects.
F. Zezza
To be brief, many varieties of Saint Sophia’s marbles
can be found in St. Mark’s Basilica, while the same kinds
of marble employed in the sultans’ mosques, starting from
those of Mehmed II, Bayezid II, and Suleyman, had been
used before in Byzantine churches and these, in turn, have
provided the ones reused in Venetian churches and palaces
(Fig. 3.18).
Of course, the specialists of the history of architecture
and those of the history of art correctly justify it as a story
of mutual influence. Moreover, as to the relationship
between Byzantine and Ottoman art, critical literature
acknowledges two conflicting attitudes in devising archi-
tectural structures: the ones maintaining Turkish architec-
ture to be deriving exclusively from Byzantine models and
the others asserting the originality of Turkish art and the
absence of other influences as regards its origin [8]. No
such theory was ever to be found in the history of art, no
architectonic style abruptly broke out by itself, nor can it be
reduced to the imitation of projects which had assimilated
and elaborated the experiences of the past. In obeisance to
this concept, innovative projects, when drawing up new
ones, feed on the experiences of the past. Therefore, with-
out any confusion c­ oncerning the history, the ideology, and
the styles of architectonic structure, the truth is that the
choice of ancient colored marbles, also as regards their
quality, was greatly influenced both by political power and
religious creeds. The rich supply of colored marbles,
reserved to emperors and churches or suitable to the social
class of customers such as sultans, princes, governors, and
religious authorities, accounts for the intrinsic value attrib-
uted to marble.
On the other hand, in the course of the centuries, the art
of well-tended and ornate churches has always implied the
3 The Monument Stone: An Eternal Link of Past Civilizations
Fig. 3.18 The ancient
colored marbles shared
between Venetians and
Ottoman in churches and
mosques
Fig. 3.19 Decorative architecture design
knowledge of past experiences. Within the different con-
texts, the innovation which has allowed the development of
the models of the past has also brought back the use of
­colored marbles. The general continuity in taste emerges
from the long span of time, and the message it gives us is
that it comes straight from the bottoms of the artists’ hearts
through the fascination of pure marbles and their fast colors
(Fig. 3.19). The value of each work of art, in architecture,
comes from the structural devising of the building and the
integrity of the materials employed. Marble is an original
product of nature, and its preciousness lies in its immutable
colors and in the attractive properties really defined by the
textual and structural characteristics.
27
The emphasis acquired by architectonic structures and
decorative plans depends also on the quality of marble,
which is an integral form of nature and a reality of cultural
values selected for the benefit of those who are disposed to
understand them. In time, the power of expression, soaked
in spiritual and emotional harmonies, has contributed to
the innovation of styles and traditions, which has never
confined cultural values to a secondary role. The artist’s
creativity, arisen from the authentic emotion of rediscover-
ing the same marble elements each time, places the sug-
gestions and the experiences in a wider horizon, again
leading to the progress of man and to the very source of
human feeling. From this point of view, the same Roman
28
marble, each time rediscovered and shared, sends us a
­cultural message: monument stones are an eternal link of
civilization.
This impressive outlook refers us again, for metaphor, to
the concept of the rights of culture, which claim to safe-
guard and increase the value of the world heritage, and to
that of the duties of culture, aiming at producing knowl-
edge and development. This cultural message encourages
us to go on getting in touch and comparing experiences and
projects: a real convergence of efforts is the target aiming at
preserving the extraordinary wealth inherited from past
civilizations. Monuments and historic cities, apparently so
far apart, as regards identities and traditions, serve to create
synergies, so that the safeguard action aimed at preserving
and perpetuating the tangible signs of past civilizations
becomes, in its deep-rooted significance, a further chal-
lenge to improve cooperation in the world.
F. Zezza
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