Mosaics

📖 In short

Mosaic is the art of making pictures and decorations from tiny colored pieces of stone, glass or ceramic, set side by side and fixed with mortar. When you look at it from far away, the little pieces make a whole, wonderful picture!

🤩 Did you know?

A small piece of a mosaic is called a “tessera”.
Byzantine mosaic art flourished from the tenth to the fourteenth century.
Today mosaic is used to decorate bathrooms, swimming pools and walls.
In the town of Madaba in Jordan there's an ancient map made of mosaic.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Patient little pieces

The artist first draws the picture, then cuts small pieces of stone or glass and puts each one in its place in the right color. One picture can need thousands of pieces.

🔍 Ancient mosaics

The Romans and Byzantines made whole floors and walls of mosaic, with pictures of people, animals, hunting and the sea. Their colors are still beautiful today.

💡 Mosaics in mosques

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem have wonderful gold and green mosaics showing trees, rivers, palaces and plant patterns.