Open AccessReconstruction of a Façade of the House of Aion, Nea Paphos, Cyprus
Author(s) -
Aleksandra Brzozowska-Jawornicka
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
studies in ancient art and civilization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2449-867X
pISSN - 1899-1548
DOI - 10.12797/saac.20.2016.20.10
Subject(s) - arch , art , excavation , visual arts , art history , engineering , archaeology , geography , structural engineering
The subject of this paper is a reconstruction of the architectural decoration of a façade of the House of Aion in Nea Paphos. During an excavation carried out in 1997 several pieces of decorated architectural elements were uncovered in room 19, among others the fragments of an arch, a lintel, an engaged column, an impost and two consoles. Those blocks served as a base for the reconstruction of the architectural frame of the main gateway. It took the form of a cantilevered, blind arcade of five spans erected above the main gate. Each span consisted of two engaged columns supporting an arch with a shallow niche underneath it, probably for a kind of decorative element. The reconstruction was based on similar architectural details known from the main room of the House of Aion, the Porta Aurea at the palace of Diocletian in Split, and the western façade of the Felix Romuliana Palace in Gamzigrad.