Since time immemorial, mankind has sought to create all conditions for a comfortable life for itself. In addition to houses, people erected majestic temples in which they worshiped their gods, pyramids and incredible buildings that seem senseless at first glance. Not many of them have survived to this day. These ruins received the historical term - "ruins". On the map of the modern world, you can find many traces of ancient civilizations that characterize our ancestors as people with an inquisitive mind and craving for great achievements and beauty.
What is a ruin?
According to a dictionary of terms and concepts, ruins are the ruins or collapse of a building or place of human settlement. These remnants of residential and non-residential buildings are often of architectural and historical value. The greatest number of them remained in the territories of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, Byzantium, Asian countries and the American continent.
The main material for the construction of buildings was limestone, depending on the locality of the people. Under the influence of natural conditions and destruction during military clashes, buildings gradually became unsuitable for use. After their work, winds and rains did, finally destroying the architectural structures of the Ancient World.
Famous ruins
Across the globe, traces of ancient civilizations and the destroyed towers and castles of the Middle Ages are scattered.
The most famous buildings are:
- Machu Picchu in Peru is an Inca city;
- Chichen Itza is the sacred city of the Itza tribe in Mexico;
- Stonehenge - a majestic stone building, erected 2000 years BC. e .;
- Ta Prohm is a temple in Cambodia;
- Luxor in Egypt and many others.
Answering the question: what is a ruin, it should be noted that the buildings and ruins can be dated not by the Middle Ages and not by the period BC, such remains of structures can be built later than the 15th century.
Historians and archaeologists do not stop searching for traces of the life of ancient civilizations. Excavations lead to the discovery of cities hidden under mounds of sand or flooded in coastal zones.
Ruins as scenery
In the landscape architecture of the 18th-19th centuries, it was very popular to decorate park areas with ruins and landslides. This created a sense of the presence of antiquity and the mysteries of the past.
Representatives of the European elite often walked among the buildings of the ruins of ancient castles and other structures. In those days, such decoration served as a separate direction in the architectural and landscape arrangement of recreational facilities.