The Spolia Churches of Rome: Recycling Antiquity in the Middle Ages. This item is unavailable.The Spolia Churches of Rome: Recycling Antiquity in the Middle Ages

The church-builders of the Middle Ages treated the architecture of ancient Rome like a quarry full of prefabricated building materials. This resulted in some very eclectically and ingeniously constructed churches. In The Spolia Churches of Rome we learn of the principles for the distribution of these antique architectural elements and the significance of breaking down and building on the past. Also presented here is a selection of eleven particularly beautiful churches featuring a wide variety of spolia. This book also contains maps and other practical information which make it the ideal companion when seeking out the past in modern-day Rome.

Maria Fabricius Hansen is an art historian and associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. She has written books and articles on the legacy and presence of antiquity in medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. This book, which is both an introduction to the spolia churches of medieval Rome and a guide to eleven selected churches, is based on a longer thesis on the subject, The Eloquence of Appropriation