Decorative elements are an important component of the artistic image of an architectural structure. Each architectural style has its own special set of decorative details. One of them is the castle stone. Architects usually showed its significance through large size.
What is a castle stone in architecture?
So in the structure it is customary to call an element strongly protruding from the wall plane, crowning an arch or arched arch. It is usually wedge-shaped. It is made of expensive materials. In addition, the decorative castle stone also has functional significance - it strengthens the arched structure in its most unstable, fragile place.
Stone as a symbol
The expression "castle stone" over time entered our everyday life and became a symbol of strength and stability, based on the most important, central element of the entire "structure". For example, in politics - a society that is firmly supported by the strong and wise power of the rulers. In Christianity, the "castle stone" is often called the Bible as the basis of religious dogma and the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the foundation of religion. In case of refutation or rejection of this fact, the Christian religion itself would be doomed.
History
Arched structures were first used in building art by the Etruscans. They were later adopted by the ancient Romans and revered as a miracle. That is why they accompanied the ceremony of laying in the arched construction of the castle stone with ritual acts. The Romans made this detail from expensive breeds of stone and wood. At that time, the castle stone was not superimposed on the arch structure. He wedged into it with a wedge so that he became her strut and took on most of the load of the arch on the supports.
Castle stone: view, purpose
As for the decorative decoration of the structure, the castle stones are simple, consisting of three parts of a wedge-shaped shape, the central of which protrudes more than the side ones. Often decorated with a relief or mascaron - a relief image of the muzzle of an animal or human face.
The animal motifs in the design of the castle stones had a symbolic meaning, similar in meaning to the ancient amulets depicted on the "towels" - boards connecting the junction of the roof gaps of the end facade of the hut. In both cases, they performed a protective function. And on the castle stone could be placed a sign containing information about the author of the building. Something like a brand or a monogram. This tradition has been preserved since the Middle Ages. The most common image of the lion's muzzle. Indeed, it was the lions that were the traditional symbol of perseverance, strength, courage and courage, as well as power in medieval cities. They guarded the entrance to the houses of the nobles and were even depicted on the entrance handles.
Use in the style directions of St. Petersburg
The new European city of St. Petersburg, which arose on the banks of the Neva, at the first stage had a hut and wooden buildings. However, after 1718, on the Vasilievsky Island, and a little later on the left bank, they began to build stone typical houses according to the project of the first architect of the city, Domenico Trezzini. The style of St. Petersburg in the first quarter of the 18th century is commonly called Peter's or Early Russian Baroque. One of the characteristic decorative elements was simple window frames with "ears" in the corners. Another is a castle stone in the center of the upper bar of the clypeus or above it. This decorative stone at that time was very laconic and, as a rule, was not decorated with any frills.
In the era of Elizabeth Petrovna, castle stones began to have a more decorative appearance. They were decorated with vertical grooves, coats of arms and relief ornaments, ornaments, and sometimes they were completely replaced with stucco molding. During this period, the facades of buildings were cut through by windows of various shapes, including in the form of a semicircular arch, where the castle stone found its "refuge". By the way, it was first used specifically on arches of this type - back in ancient times, usually in classical architecture.
Since the 1830s, classicism in St. Petersburg, in the decor of which castle stones were made mainly in the form of mascarons, was gradually replaced by the following style - eclecticism.
Within the framework of this style, there was a trend of "historicism", reviving the decorative elements of the old architectural styles in new combinations and senses. On the buildings of this period, you can also find a variety of types of decorative castle stones.
And at the beginning of the 20th century, in the architecture of northern Art Nouveau, castle stones began to take shape using plant and zoomorphic motifs.