Spolia

Spolia (from the Latin spolium: " prey, prey, the enemy Removed " ), components and other remains such as parts of reliefs and sculptures, friezes and Architravsteine ​​, column or Kapitellreste that come from buildings of older cultures and reused in new buildings. Also antique gems and reliefs on medieval book covers and reliquaries are called spoils.

Spolia in architecture arose originally without artistic intention through the use of ancient building ruins as a quarry for new buildings such as the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus or the city Tralles, whose stones from the foundation Aydın was built. The Justinian Cistern ( Yerebatan Sarayi Yerebatan Cistern or ) in Istanbul is supported by hundreds, originating from other buildings, mostly Corinthian columns, of which two are seated on monumental Medusenhäuptern as bases.

Robberies can mean the transmission of a tradition, when they are taken down from the previous and as relics appear prominently on the new building again. This is especially true when spoils are stylistically outside the newer architectural design concept. The sanctity of a place can be delivered.

Ever since the Romanesque spolia were used planned: To view complete pre-Romanesque churches sometimes or Visigoth, Lombard and iroschottische portals ( eg, a few churches and chapels in Aachen, Regensburg, Tuscania, Perpignan or Romainmôtier ) holds, the Cathedral of Syracuse, the pillars of a former co-located Greek temple. Sculptures from Byzantium, as the porphyry statues carved into the tetrarch, adorn the corner of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, the pillars of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen are from Ravenna.

Since the Renaissance spolia were used primarily as a romantic quote. They were collected and traded, in order to obstruct in apparent randomness, but clearly visible in villas and palaces. In this tradition are also built in the 18th and 19th centuries, artificial ruins, but which contain no more spoils.