Polygonal masonry is a technique of stone wall construction. True polygonal masonry is a technique wherein the visible surfaces of the stones are dressed with straight sides or joints, giving the block the appearance of a polygon.
This technique is found throughout the world and sometimes corresponds to the less technical category of
Cyclopean masonry
Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...
.
Places
Crimea
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Chufut-Kale
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Chufut-Kale ( crh, Çufut Qale, italic=yes ; Russian and Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале - ''Chufut-Kale''; Karaim: Кала - קלעה - ''Kala'') is a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains that now lies in ruins. It is a natio ...
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Mangup
, settlement_type = Historic settlement
, image_skyline = Mangup Fortress2.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption = Ruins of the Gate of the Citadel at Mangup
, pushpin_map = Crimea
, pushpin_re ...
Ahu Vinapu
Ahu Vinapu is an archaeological site on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in Eastern Polynesia.
The ceremonial center of Vinapu includes one of the larger ahu on Rapa Nui. The ahu exhibits extraordinary stonemasonry consisting of large, carefully fitte ...
Ecuador
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Ingapirca
Ingapirca (Kichwa: ''Inka Pirka'', "Inca wall") is a town in Cañar Province, Ecuador, and the name of the older Inca ruins and archeological site nearby.
These are the largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador. The most significant building is the ...
Finland
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Bomarsund Fortress
The Battle of Bomarsund, in August 1854, took place during the Åland War, which was part of the Crimean War, when an Anglo-French expeditionary force attacked a Russian fortress. It was the only major action of the war to take place at Bomar ...
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Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna (; until 1918 Viapori, ), or Sveaborg (), is an inhabited sea fortress the Suomenlinna district is on eight islands of which six have been fortified; it is about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finla ...
Georgia
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Anacopia Fortress
Anacopia Fortress ( ka, ანაკოფია) is an ancient military citadel in New Athos (as it is currently known) in the disputed Republic of Abkhazia, located some 22 km (14 miles) by road along the coast from Sukhumi. The site, approximat ...
Bagrati Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Dormition, or the Kutaisi Cathedral, more commonly known as Bagrati Cathedral ( ka, ბაგრატი; , or ''Bagratis tadzari''), is an 11th-century cathedral in the city of Kutaisi, in the Imereti region of Georgia. A ...
Gelati Monastery
Gelati ( ka, გელათის მონასტერი) is a medieval monastic complex near Kutaisi in the Imereti region of western Georgia. One of the first monasteries in Georgia, it was founded in 1106 by King David IV of Georgia as a ...
Greece
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Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
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Keramikos
Kerameikos (, ) also known by its Latinized form Ceramicus, is an area of Athens, Greece, located to the northwest of the Acropolis, which includes an extensive area both within and outside the ancient city walls, on both sides of the Dipylon G ...
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Nekromanteion
The Nekromanteion ( el, Νεκρομαντεῖον) was an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and Persephone. According to tradition, it was located on the banks of the Acheron river in Epirus, near the ancient city of Ephyra. ...
Hungary
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Komárom
Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...
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Fort Monostor
Fort Monostor ( hu, Monostori Erőd) (also referred to as Fort Sandberg) is a fort is situated close to the city of Komárom, Hungary. It was built between 1850 and 1871 like part of the fortification system of Komárom.Bizubova, Maria et alThe S ...
India
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Vellore Fort
Vellore Fort is a large 16th-century fort situated in heart of the Vellore city, in the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, India built by Vijayanagara Empire, Vijayanagara kings. The fort was at one time the headquarters of ...
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Great Wall of India
Kumbhalgarh (literally "Kumbhal fort") also known as the Great Wall of India is a Mewar fortress on the westerly range of Aravalli Hills, just about 48 km from Rajsamand city in the Rajsamand district of the Rajasthan state in western India. I ...
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Murud Janjira
Murud-Janjira () is the local name of a famous fort and tourist spot situated on an island just off the coastal town/city of Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India.
Origins of the name
The word Janjira is a corruption of the ara ...
Indonesia
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Nias
Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...
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Toraja
The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Chri ...
Iran
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Si-o-se-pol
The Allahverdi Khan Bridge ( fa, پل اللهوردی خان), popularly known as Si-o-se-pol ( fa, سیوسهپل, lit= hebridge of thirty-three pans}), is the largest of the eleven historical bridges on the Zayanderud, the largest riv ...
Italy
In Italy, polygonal masonry is particularly indicative of the region of Latium, but it occurs also in
Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
,
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Brutti ...
,
Samnium
Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The lan ...
Giuseppe Lugli
Giuseppe Lugli (born in Rome, Italy, in 1890; died in Rome, Italy, on December 5, 1967) was Professor of ancient Roman topography at the University of Rome from 1933 to 1961.
Lugli's academic career began with the completion of his undergraduat ...
have carried out studies of the technique.Frank, T. 1924. "Roman buildings of the Republic: an attempt to date them from their materials." ''MAAR'' 3. Some notable sites that have fortification walls built in this technique include
Norba
Norba, an ancient town of Latium (''Adjectum''), Italy. It is situated 1 mile northwest of the modern town of Norma, on the western edge of the Volscian Mountains or Monti Lepini. The town is perched above a precipitous cliff with a splendid vie ...
Alatri
Alatri ( la, Aletrium) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici,Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hernici". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed. ...
,
Boiano
Bojano or Boiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso, Molise, south-central Italy.
History
Originally named Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri, a tribe of the Samnites, it played a maj ...
,
Circeo
Monte Circeo or Cape Circeo ( it, Promontorio del Circeo , la, Mons Circeius) is a mountain promontory that marks the southwestern limit of the former Pontine Marshes.located on the southwest coast of Italy near San Felice Circeo. At the nor ...
,
Cosa
Cosa was a Latin colony founded in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, on land confiscated from the Etruscans, to solidify the control of the Romans and offer the Republic a protected port.
The Etruscan site (called ''Cusi'' or ''Cosia'') may have b ...
,
Alba Fucens
Alba Fucens was an ancient Italic town occupying a lofty location (1,000 m) at the foot of the Monte Velino, c. 6.5 km north of Avezzano, Abruzzo, central Italy. Its remains are today in the ''comune'' of Massa d'Albe.
History
It was ...
,
Palestrina
Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pren ...
, and
Terracina
Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity.
History Ancient times
Terracina appears in anci ...
. The Porta Rosa of the ancient city of
Velia
, alternate_name = Hyele, Ele, Elea
, image = Velia Excavation and Tower.jpg
, alt =
, caption = View of the excavations and the tower at Velia
, map_type = Italy
, map_alt =
, map_size =
, relief =
, coordinates =
, location = Ve ...
employs a variant of the technique known as Lesbian masonry.
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Santa Severa
Santa Severa is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Santa Marinella, in the province of Rome, Lazio, Italy. It is a small sea resort on the Via Aurelia, c. south of Santa Marinella and north of Rome.
It takes its name from the 2nd-century Ch ...
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Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge ( it, Ponte di Rialto; vec, Ponte de Rialto) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its fir ...
Japan
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Akō Castle
is a flatland Japanese castle located in the city of Akō, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Built by the Asano clan in the Edo period, it was the center of Akō Domain in western Harima Province. The castle was designated a National Historic Site ...
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Fushimi Castle
, also known as or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a Japanese castle located in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto.
Fushimi Castle was constructed from 1592 to 1594 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the Sengoku period as his retirement residence. Fushimi Castle ...
Nakagusuku Castle
is a ''gusuku'' in the village of Kitanakagusuku, Okinawa, Japan. It is one of a number of castles built on the island of Okinawa by the Ryukyu Kingdom now in ruins. The legendary Ryukyuan commander, Gosamaru, built the fortress in the early 1 ...
*
Nijō Castle
is a flatland castle in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings (Kuruwa) of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is ...
*
Odawara Castle
is a landmark in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
History
Odawara was a stronghold of the Doi clan during the Kamakura period, and a fortified residence built by their collateral branch, the Kobayakawa clan, stood on the ...
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Oka Castle
The Oka Castle, now in ruins, is in Taketa, Ōita Prefecture, Japan.
History
Oka Castle has an extensive history. Sited on a mountaintop, it was originally built in 1185, for Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
Shiga Sadatomo took control in 1332 and ma ...
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Osaka Castle
is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
Layout
The main tower ...
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Shibata Castle
is a flatland-style Japanese castle located in the city of Shibata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Shibata Castle was home to the Mizoguchi clan, ''daimyō'' of Shibata Domain. The castle was also known as .
Background
...
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Shuri Castle
was a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroye ...
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Uwajima Castle
270px, Aerial view of Uwajima Castle
is a ''hirayama-jiro'' Japanese castle located in the city of Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. An alternate name for this castle is Tsurushima-jō. The castle is one of twelve Japanese castles to still have an original ...
Latvia
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Daugavpils
Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...
Malta
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Corradino Lines
The Corradino Lines ( mt, Is-Swar ta' Kordin) are a line of fortification on the Corradino Heights in Paola, Malta. They were built between 1871 and 1880 by the British. Today, the lines are partly intact and they lie in an industrial area.
Hist ...
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Ħaġar Qim
Ħaġar Qim (; "Standing/Worshipping Stones") is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BC). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious ...
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Megalithic Temples of Malta
The Megalithic Temples of Malta ( mt, It-Tempji Megalitiċi ta' Malta) are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island coun ...
Mexico
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Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
Lovćen
Lovćen ( cyrl, Ловћен, ) is a mountain and national park in southwestern Montenegro. It is the inspiration behind the names ''Montenegro'' and ''Crna Gora'', both of which mean "Black Mountain" and refer to the appearance of Mount Lov ...
Morocco
*
Lixus Lixus may refer to:
* ''lixus'', the Latin word for "boiled"
* Lixus (ancient city) in Morocco
* ''Lixus (beetle)'', a genus of true weevils
* Lixus, one of the sons of Aegyptus and Caliadne
Caliadne (; Ancient Greek: Καλιάδνης ) or Cali ...
Peru
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Chinchero
Chinchero District is one of seven districts of the Urubamba Province in Peru. It is the location for the proposed Chinchero International Airport, which would serve travelers to the Cusco Region.
Geography
One of the highest peaks of the distri ...
Coricancha
Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire.
...
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Inti Watana, Ayacucho
Inti Watana, Intiwatana ( Quechua, hispanicized spelling ''Intihuatana'') or Pumaqucha (Quechua ''puma'' cougar, puma, ''qucha'' lake, "puma lake", hispanicized spellings ''Pomaccocha, Pomacocha, Pumacocha'') is an archaeological site in Peru. I ...
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Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo ( qu, Ullantaytampu) is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamb ...
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Raqch'i
Raqch'i (Quechua) is an Inca archaeological site in Peru located in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, San Pedro District, near the populated place Raqch'i. It is 3480 meters above sea level and 110 kilometers from the city of Cuzco.Sillar (20 ...
Vilcashuamán
Vilcashuamán or Vilcasguaman (from Quechua Willka Waman, "sacred hawk") is the capital of Vilcas Huamán Province, Ayacucho region, Peru. It is located at an altitude of 3,490 m on the eastern slopes of the Andes. It is located on an ancient a ...
Twelve-angled_stone
The twelve-angled stone is an archeological artifact in Cuzco, Peru. It was part of a stone wall of an Inca palace, and is considered to be a national heritage object. The stone is currently part of a wall in the palace of the Archbishop of Cuzco. ...
Philippines
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Fort Pilar
The Real Fuerte de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (''Royal Fort of Our Lady of the Pillar of Saragossa''), also Fort Pilar, is a 17th-century military defense fortress built by the History of the Philippines (1521–1898), Spanish colonial g ...
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Fort San Pedro
Fort San Pedro ( es, Fuerte de San Pedro) is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in ...
Portugal
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Quinta da Regaleira
''Quinta da Regaleira'' is a quinta located near the historic centre of Sintra, Portugal. It is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO within the "Cultural Landscape of Sintra". Along with the other palaces in the area such as the Quinta ...
Romania
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Curtea de Argeș Cathedral
The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș (early 16th century) is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. It is located on the grounds of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, and is dedicated to Dormition of the Mother of God. The buildin ...
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Iulia Hasdeu Castle
The Iulia Hașdeu Castle is a folly built in the form of small castle by historian and politician Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu in the city of Câmpina, Romania. Work on it began in 1893, after Hasdeu's daughter, Iulia Hasdeu, died at the age of 1 ...
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Orăștioara de Sus
Orăștioara de Sus ( hu, Felsővárosvíz, german: Ober-Brooserbach) is a commune in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Bucium (''Bucsum''), Costești (''Kosztesd''), Costești-Deal, Grădiștea de Munte ('' ...
Königsberg Castle
The Königsberg Castle (german: Königsberger Schloss, russian: Кёнигсбергский замок, Konigsbergskiy zamok) was a castle in Königsberg, Germany (since 1946 Kaliningrad, Russia), and was one of the landmarks of the East Prussian ...
Les Ferreres Aqueduct
The Ferreres Aqueduct ( ca, Aqüeducte de les Ferreres ), also known as the Pont del Diable (; en, "Devil's Bridge"), is an ancient bridge, part of the Roman aqueduct built to supply water to the ancient city of Tarraco, today Tarragona in Cata ...
Sudan
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Meroë
Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: or ; ar, مرواه, translit=Meruwah and ar, مروي, translit=Meruwi, label=none; grc, Μερόη, translit=Meróē) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east ...
Sweden
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Älvsborg fortress
Älvsborg Fortress ( sv, Älvsborgs fästning), with its main facility Oscar II's Fort ( sv, Oscar II:s fort) built 1899–1907, is a now-defunct Swedish fortification located at the mouth of the Göta River in the Älvsborg district of Gothenbu ...
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Vaberget Fortress
Vaberget Fortress ( sv, Vabergets fästning) is a fortress located five kilometers west of Karlsborg Fortress, by lake Vättern, in Västergötland, Sweden. The southern fort at Vaberget Fortress was the first fort in the world that fully used th ...
Syria
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Arwad
Arwad, the classical Aradus ( ar, أرواد), is a town in Syria on an eponymous island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative center of the Arwad Subdistrict (''nahiyah''), of which it is the only locality.Hosn Suleiman Baitokaike
* Bara
* Barad
* Barjaka
* Basufan
* Bauda
* Benastur Monastery
*
Church of Saint Simeon Stylites
The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites ( ar, كنيسة مار سمعان العمودي , Kanīsat Mār Simʿān el-ʿAmūdī) is one of the oldest surviving church complexes, founded in the 5th century. It is located approximately northwestern of ...
Cyrrhus
Cyrrhus (; el, Κύρρος ''Kyrrhos'') is a city in ancient Syria founded by Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals. Other names for the city include Coricium, Corice, Hagioupolis, Nebi Huri ( ar, نبي هوري), and Khoros ...
Mount Simeon
Mount Simeon or Mount Simon ( ar, جبل سمعان Jabal Simʻān ), also called Mount Laylūn ( ar, جبل ليلون, is a highland region in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The mountain is located in the Mount Simeon and Aʻzāz distric ...
Serjilla
Serjilla ( ar, سيرجيلة) is one of the best preserved of the Dead Cities in northwestern Syria, containing about 700 sites. It is located in the Jebel Riha, approximately 65 km north from Hama and 80 km southwest from Aleppo, v ...
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Qalb Loze
Qalb Loze ( ar, قلب لوزة, also spelled Qalb Lawzah or Qalb Lozeh) is a Druze village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate located about west of Aleppo. It is situated near the border with Turkey, in the Hari ...
Phanom Rung
Phanom Rung ( th, พนมรุ้ง, ), or full name, Prasat Hin Phanom Rung ( th, ปราสาทหินพนมรุ้ง – ''Phanom Rung Stone Castle''), is a Hindu Khmer Empire temple complex set on the rim of an extinct volcan ...
Turkey
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Enderun School
The Enderun School ( ota, اندرون مکتب, Enderûn Mektebi) was a palace school and boarding school within Topkapi Palace. It was mostly for Princes of the court and the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Students here were primarily recru ...
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
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Hattusa
Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of t ...
Selimiye Barracks
Selimiye Barracks ( tr, Selimiye Kışlası), also known as Scutari Barracks, is a Turkish Army barracks located in the Üsküdar district on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. It was originally built in 1800 by Sultan Selim III for the soldier ...
United Kingdom
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Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to S ...
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Maes Howe
Maeshowe (or Maes Howe; non, Orkhaugr) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around . In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered c ...
*
Stanton Moor
Stanton Moor is a small upland area in the Derbyshire Peak District of central northern England, lying between Matlock and Bakewell near the villages of Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak. It is known for its megaliths – particularly the Nine Lad ...
Harsimus Stem Embankment
The Harsimus Stem Embankment, also called Sixth Street Embankment, is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, now abandoned and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of the historic downtown of Jersey City, New Jersey in the U ...
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Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his archit ...
*
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
References
* P. Gros. 1996. ''L'architecture romaine: du début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire''. 2 v. Paris: Picard.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polygonal Masonry
Masonry