History of Architectural Ceramics

Ceramics have accompanied man since the first sedentary civilisations. Under certain cultures, ceramics achieved the category of Art in architectural claddings, embodying the science of plane partitions. Ceramics became essential features of certain building techniques and have provided responses to various habitat demands, parallel to the advances made by Humankind. The foregoing all being conditioned by the processing of ceramic materials at each given time and place, fostering or constraining their use.

This documentary block seeks to provide a cross-sectional view of the concept ‘Architectural ceramics’, from the processing of products with the help of industrial archaeology and archaeometry, to the repertories, applications, and construction solutions achieved with these materials. It will also include a section on ceramic heritage restoration projects.

The activation of this block, planned for 2011, will coincide with the culmination of the photography and cataloguing work being performed by IPC on architectural ceramics of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the publishing project of all the IPC documentary collections generated since 1988.