Cuboid (stone)

Romanesque church building in sandstone ashlar masonry : St. Brigida (Legden)

Remnants of the wall with ashlars of the Stierberg castle ruins

In art history and in construction, a cuboid (also ashlar , stone cuboid ) is a natural stone cut in the shape of a mathematical cuboid .

Ashlar stones are used in building construction both in connection with mortar in the masonry bond and as dry masonry . In contrast to masonry bricks, each stone must be prepared by the stonemason . In order to limit this effort, they are given a much larger format than the brick. On the other hand, with these large stones it is easier to achieve the monumental effect of the building , which is often desired . That is why they were mainly used in sacred buildings , but also in palaces and castles , here also because of their special strength. The pyramids were already built with ashlar stones.

In civil engineering , ashlars are u. a. Used for road and path construction as paving stones and in waterways engineering for quays and locks as well as bridge structures.

A distinction is made between:

• regarding the processing and the shape of the visible or usable area:
  • Embossed cuboid, also bossed cuboid, see Bosswork
  • Humpback cuboid
  • Diamond cuboid
  • Cushion cuboid : like a pillow
  • Goiter cuboid
  • Upholstered cuboid : like a cushion
  • rusticated cuboid, see bushwork

• regarding the material:
  • Quarry stone cuboid, see quarry stone
  • Granite cuboid, see granite
  • Sandstone cuboid, see sandstone ; also ashlar sandstone, see Elbe Sandstone Mountains

• regarding the use:
  • Corner cuboid that is used at the corners of a building and is often designed differently from the surrounding masonry
  • Cuboid masonry , when an entire structure is erected with cuboids

See also

• Ashlar plaster

literature

• Cuboid . In: Harald Olbrich (ed.), Gerhard Strauss (initial): Lexicon of Art. Vol. 5: Mosb-Q . Rework Seemann, Leipzig 1993, ISBN 3-363-00048-0 .

Web links

Wiktionary: cuboid  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wiktionary: Quaderstein  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• How a cuboid is made . Cathedral for children, metropolitan chapter at the High Cathedral in Cologne
• Rudolf Koch: Notes and materials on medieval construction. Processing of stone in the Middle Ages: Block processing - Introduction . Private website on the website of the University of Vienna, 1998/2005.