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Modern Day Cleaning Equipment and 16th Century Natural Stone Floors

The interior of the Basilica di Sant-Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy with it's 16th century marble floor tiles

By: Briana Smith  |  January 30, 2014

As I stuffed my stamped entrance ticket into my pocket and pulled open the wooden door, I was temporarily blinded by going from the bright sunlight outside to the darkness inside.

I stepped further into the musty building, the room brightening considerably from the light that gently filtered into the nave from the plain glass clerestory windows. My boot heals clicked as I walked across the marble floor tiles, gazing in wonder at the scenes in front of me. A glittering array of gold, carmine, lapis lazuli, jade, black, white (and everything in between) tiles decorated the walls forming breathtaking mosaic frescos that depicted early Christian motifs. Amazing! How on earth has all of it survived intact for this long?

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Topics: cleaning equipment, Ravenna mosaics, natural stone flooring