Have we ever talked about
#spolia? They are components and other remains of building stones, such as parts of reliefs or sculptures, friezes and architraves, remains of columns or capitals, which come from older buildings of past generations and are reused in new buildings or walls. However, they are not put on display (we know there are examples where they were deliberately shown), but serve purely as building material, as in this example.
Who can recognise it?
Particularly striking here are the services of former columns visible in cross-section, which probably come from Sankt Martin's Church that once stood on this site. But if you look more closely, you will notice that there are also very smoothly worked ashlars mixed in with bricks and rubble stones. We can also imagine here that the ashlars also come from the church, because there was already evidence of a church on this site in the 11th century. Thus, ashlar masonry is a widespread technique in the Romanesque period.
However, this kind of reuse is a reminder of how precious building materials are and that you can also create new things from older parts. Moreover, such discoveries always remind us that not everything seems to be as it appears at first glance, because the history of cities and individual buildings can be very complex. So always keep your eyes open.
#spolie #medievalspolia #hainburg #hainburganderdonau #niederösterreichkultur #niederösterreich #visitniederösterreich #loveraustria #exporingaustria #wall #ashlar Hainburg an der Donau