Famous ruinist artists such as Piranesi, Hubert Robert, Panini are officially considered visionaries. Explaining their ruins in the paintings by a mixture of real architectural objects and invented by themselves. But to better understand this, you can compare paintings and prints with real ruins that you can touch with your hands. I managed to visit Rome and find some objects that struck me in Piranesi's prints and paintings by other artists. Why did you want to take it apart? Because he was very attentive to detail and portrayed everything he saw with photographic accuracy.

Everything is neglected, people in rags graze cattle. On the ground and on top of the arch is a layer of earth. Very similar to the traces of flooding.
Now:


Everything is like an engraving. Close up, you can see how well the blocks are processed, how the joints are fitted, how the patterns move from block to block.
It simply cannot be gouged with a chisel with the help of a crowd of slaves. And those people, in the engraving, clearly have nothing to do with such buildings.

Quite by chance I came across this arch and immediately recognized it.


Now she huddles among residential buildings:


How many centuries will it last? Equally skillfully crafted from carved stone blocks.
Obviously, she was spoiled by some powerful force: an earthquake or a flood, or all together.

One of the pyramids that were in Rome. Judging by the pictures, there were several of them. Apparently the culture of Rome and Egypt was in close contact influenced each other, since in addition to the pyramids, obelisks with Egyptian symbols still survive in Rome. Obelisks have been standing in their places for a long time since is also in the paintings of the "ruinists" in the same places as now.


Now:

I have long dreamed of seeing this pyramid, so I could not resist, I posted several photos, suddenly someone is interested in the details.
As you can see, the current level of the ground is much higher than the level of the pyramid and the wall adjacent to it.
Almost all the ruins in Rome are submerged in the earth. They were already submerged to such a depth at the time of their depiction by artists.

I wonder how the barbarians could destroy such a grandiose structure with their hands? The textbooks didn't tell us about it.


That is, someone designed with the help of drawing tools, calculated all the elements, loads, organized production and delivery
building materials, then according to all the rules, with all the patterns, a huge building was made of bricks. And then the barbarians came with their hands and sticks
dug everything and kicked off pieces of several tons?
When you stand next to these thick, perfectly even, patterned walls, you absolutely don't believe the official story.

These people at Capitol Hill look like strangers here, aliens. Weak, sick, dressed in rags.

Pay attention to the height of the people in pointed hats: the horses are up to their chests. Maybe these high doorways did it for them?

My, and not only my conclusion: those who built these buildings, arches and monuments possessed technologies that they could not use according to the official
version of the story. Their civilization was very advanced, they built from stone easily and naturally. It is impossible to teach any slaves to build like that.
At some point after the disaster, civilization disappeared and buildings collapsed. Well, the artists just found more ruins, unlike us.
Later they were taken away for building materials and museums. I cannot call these artists visionaries, since I myself was convinced on the spot of the reality of what they portrayed.

Draw me yourself in an abandoned castle of desires
The silence of the old walls, gray from eternal snow,
Crazy winter of pain-bound expectations
Expectations of frantic sighs and sonorous steps.

French academic classicism in landscape painting interesting, first of all, in the context of the “poetics of ruins”, as a symbolic category of European classicism. Landscapes of ruins, as a genre, were developed thanks to the artists of Venice. The artists arranged the city space in deep, balanced compositions, instead of panoramic landscapes. When combined, the resulting landscapes.

In the design of the poem, my collages of the Scottish Abbey Inchmahome priory were used in combination with the works of photo-artists Christiane Vleugels and Konstantin Kacev, poetry - Zaur Hadith http://vk.com/id139047606. To illustrate the theoretical part - landscapes of the ruins of European and Russian artists of the 17-18 centuries.

Draw me a bed - black ice covered with white silk
Draw me the moon - bright bright, painful in my eyes
Let her proud light push away from the truth hidden
For the madness of faith in your rebellious tears

Let, for the first time in thousands of years, reflected not ice silvery,
It will take off and melt, die burning hot,
Draw, draw it for me! Bright, windy, clean,
A moment before death, a moment before fate, and more ...

Draw me yourself - a warm sweater on a naked body,
Sweep an innocent hand from knee to hip and back
Trembling at your fingertips - familiar, beautiful, skillful,
Carrying you away to heaven or hell

The wind fluttering dark curls over white silk
Either a groan, or an exhalation that flew from bitten lips,
Draw the pain of love. And break ... And a crooked shard
Give me my name - a jester from unknown troupes.

Draw me your dream - black ink on white pages
Where a hand does not touch the chest, suddenly sliding over sweaty shoulders,
Where I won't be ... And completely unfamiliar faces
It will be windy - softly whispering about love at night.

Draw so that these drawings would flog my soul,
Every stroke, like a blow, tore the skin to shreds from the back,
What would a cry with an anguish, to a wild rage, to a pain
I was jealous of you for the castle of snow and eternal winter.

Quiet ... God, how quiet ... Sorry ... No, no goodbyes! ..
But the pen creaks on the paper, singing love -
You paint yourself in an abandoned castle of desires
In the silence of the old walls, gray with eternal snows.

Composition: Whisper of Stars

Artists of the 17-18 centuries shifted their attention to urban space, the free beauty of a diverse, variegated city. Just as elegant Venice created for the whole of Europe the principles of depicting a modern living city in painting, so Rome turned out to be a natural center for all depicting historical architecture, a center painting ruins ..

Rome lay in ruins, lived among the grandiose remnants of its two thousand year history. The ruins were the Colosseum, temples, baths, which were part of everyday life, they were inhabited. Attaching shacks to stone walls, hammering up palace windows with boards, attaching wooden ladders to marble, covering ancient vaults with thatch. And among those ruins, artists and architects swarmed with their albums and tape measures, again and again trying to extract from them the secrets of eternal beauty ...

Ruin were reproduced in the Renaissance. But the real aesthetics of ruins were not born until the 17th century. Ancient ruins become a sign of the connection of times, a symbol of centuries, invisibly flowing over the majestically calm space of the landscape. They even give importance to nature itself, making it a witness to history.

History and role ruined architectures were significant, this is evidenced by the abundance of images of architecture created in the 17th and 18th centuries. In these images, starting with N. Poussin, E. Allegrain, and ending with G. Robert, the architectural ideals of their time are embodied. Italian painter Baroque era Alessandro Magnasco, who painted fantastic landscapes with architectural viewsand also the French artist Hubert Robert, both included ruins, arches, colonnades, ancient temples in their canvases, but in a somewhat fantastic form, with exaggerations.

Towns and castles, churches and gardens, images of the distant past amazed the imagination of the people of the 18th century. It was already century of tourism, Russians and British, French and Germans, with a guide in their hands, met at Roman forums. IN different countries looking for different experiences. Italy existed with its ruins, its architectural monuments .. For those. to whom travel was inaccessible, as well as for those who, after the trip, wanted to preserve the memory of what they saw, there was lead - documentary and poeticized image interesting places, city landscapes.

Further lead from @Milendia:several views of the Abbey Inchmahome priory on Menteith Island- This Perthshire island is far from tourist routes, but locals often visit there, making pilgrimages as to a place of power. Here are some scenic shots of the ruins of this Abbey.

Inchmahome Island is located on the lakeMenteith (Laich o Menteith ), which is the only natural body of water in Scotland called "Lake" (not "Loch")... On the largest of the islandsInchmahome is a priory (monastery)Inchmahome Priory, in 1547 which served as a refuge for a four-yearMary Stuart , queensMary (Queen Mary). ...

The Inchmahome monastery was founded by Walter Comyn - Earl of Menteith in 1238 for the small Augustinian brethren. It has been proven that there was already a church on the island before the foundation of the monastery. The monastery opened its doors to many distinguished guests. King Robert the Bruce visited him three times: in 1306, 1308 and 1310. In 1358, the future king Robert II also stayed at the monastery. Beginning in the 16th century, the heads of abbeys and monasteries were appointed by local landowners who often did not share the religious goals of the monks.

A lot of researchers and those simply interested in the topic of antiquities argue that in the past there was a highly developed civilization on Earth. This is evidenced by traces of mechanical processing of granite and other solid rocks, on which traces of mechanisms inaccessible even to us are visible. Namely: saw discs with a thickness of 1-2 mm, high-quality vessels with a wall thickness of a few millimeters, etc.

Yes, perhaps all this took place in antiquity. But some of the examples can be explained by the hypothesis of casting and molding from geoconcrete (outcrops of cold fluidolites). It is possible that the traces of cutting tools are just traces of a spatula on "plasticine" masses.

I believe that there was a highly developed civilization, but it was different, not the same as we imagine it. Without industry and consumerism, without crutches in the form of gadgets and centralized energy supply. And the production tooling was self-sufficient and versatile. At the level of handicraft small-scale production. The drive is manual with a flywheel (inertial storage), or steam engines, about the most striking examples of which we were later told in history in the form of the first steam locomotives. Each piece was individual and to some extent a work of art. There was no conveyor and one size fits all standardization.

And this civilization was recently, back in the Middle Ages. I propose to dive into the evidence of this statement.

Video about the exhibits stored in the Hermitage (there are more than 300!) 18th century. These are masterpieces of micromechanics and engineering of the time. To develop such mechanisms today, we need design teams:

In Europe, the passion for this automation and mechanical toys lasted 200 years in history. And almost instantly, interest in them disappeared! Even in the palace of the Chinese emperor by the 19th century. accumulated about 5000 such exhibits. Then how many were there in all of Europe? How are our cell phones? And what happened that the tradition of making these machines and interest in them disappeared? Historians say that the invention of the gramophone put an end to such toys. But is it? Maybe there was a completely different reason? Indeed, in our time, electronics in smartphones is only progressing. I doubt that all over the world immediately interest in them can disappear.

Kulibin's watch

One of the masterpieces kept in the Hermitage collection is Kulibin's watch:

An egg-shaped clock, created by I. Kulibin in 1767 for the arrival of Catherine II for her arrival in Nizhny Novgorod. The clock played Easter tunes every hour. At the end of each hour, performances based on biblical themes were performed with miniature figurines. 427 smallest details... The restorers still cannot restore it, because can't figure out the secret of their work.

Now after reading this brief information, think: how could a simple self-taught person make such a masterpiece of micromechanics? For a modern engineer, you need to know many disciplines and have just vast experience in materials science and the principles of building watch mechanisms. This means that there was an excellent school even in the outback of the Russian Empire at that time. Or Kulibin studied somewhere? Did you go to Europe or were there other schools in our country?

Hours 17-18 centuries. How could symmetrical gears and other parts be handcrafted with such precision?

I once carved a medallion for myself from a silver plate according to a marked template. I had at my disposal a hand jigsaw, files and files, and polishing paste. But I didn't get a high-quality product. I did not achieve either good geometry or the quality of metal processing. Yes, I am not a jeweler and do not know all their techniques. But were all watchmakers of that time jewelers? Carving a miniature gear is not a stone in a ring.

If we take a closer look at the watches of I. Kulibin and other watches of European masters of that time, we can understand that the parts were made by turning, and not by hand. What do we know about lathes of that time? It turns out they were in a wide variety, here's the info:

Screenshot from the 17c book. These are weapons machines for the manufacture of gun barrels at the Tula plant.

A link to a book showing drawings of the rest of the machines of those times, namely 1646. Their level is in no way worse than the machines of the 19th century. It was on them that such masterpieces were made, and not with a hand tool, as historians write.

A few more photographs of the machines used to manufacture high-tech parts of the 17-18th centuries.

Machine tools up to the 19th century

Original taken from geogen_mir in the SECRETS OF CIVILIZATION. Ancient ruins in paintings and prints by Sebastian and Marco Riccia

Original taken from by_enigma in Ruins of an ancient civilization in paintings and prints by Sebastiano Ricci and Marco Ricci

Hubert Robert, Panini Giovanni Paolo and of course Piranesi Giovanni are recognized masters of painting. However, there were little-known painters in our country who also painted the destroyed heritage of previous civilizations. It is with such artists that I wanted to introduce you. Meet Sebastiano Ricci and Marco Ricci.

My remarks: People very often post such selections like this, absolutely not understanding their hidden meaning. As far as I understand, the artists who painted these paintings lived at the end of the 17th century. And the Italy of their time is depicted in the paintings. And what do we see? And we see "ancient" Rome. Only this "ancient world" is not more than 100 years old. If not less. Pay attention to the statues, they are painted almost intact in the paintings. with rare exceptions, only the heads have been torn off. Well, here it is clear - the neck is usually thin and where it is thin there and torn. By the way, it is not entirely clear why the statues were preserved. Is the material from which they are made stronger than the one from which the houses were built? But one way or another, but "ancient" Rome, we can confidently date the 16th century. By the way, in the next picture and the last one, the pyramids are very clearly visible. But today's archaeologists will unearth such ruins and take them to the time before the birth of Christ.
In general, all this agrees with my research on this score. The history we know began in Europe somewhere in the 15th century. And all the antiquities from there, from the Middle Ages. Although what is the Middle Ages?
They wrote me a comment here: We have an abandoned building from 1986. it was not completed. Bushes and trees like those sprouted on it. what's in the pictures. And nearby birches grow thicker than here. This is despite the fact that Belarus is not Italy. Our trees grow more slowly. Ruins in structure of damage to buildings were not destroyed by Time and not by local looters. There is no "cultural layer" on the ground under the buildings. I believe that artists painted the destruction that occurred during their lifetime.

They haven't completely stood the test of time, have they? Otherwise they would not be called ruins. But, despite the obvious traces of decay, the loss of the full appearance, once conceived by unknown geniuses, there is still a lot of beauty in them. Yes. Despite the fact, looking at them, you feel the burden of centuries…. They are witnesses to the flourishing of civilization, how many generations feasted or prayed in these ruins, which were once beautiful palaces and temples!
Are we watching?

Machu Picchu (Cuzco, Peru)

Photo Boris G
... The city of ancient America Machu Picchu in the country of modern Peru, at the top of a mountain range at an altitude of 2450 meters above sea level, it dominates the valley of the Urubamba River.

Chichen Itza (Tinum, Mexico)

Photo Ted Van Pelt

Pre-Columbian Mayan city of Chichen Itza​​ visited by more than 1.2 million people annually. It is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico. One of the most legendary and mysterious ...

Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England)

And this one? Do you recognize? Romantic building…. An obscure sanctuary. How did the ancients raise these stones?
Surrounded by hundreds of graves, Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England. Archaeologists claim that it was built between 3000 and 2000 BC.

Ta Prohm (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

Having become even more famous thanks to the filming of the blockbuster "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider", captured by trees and suffocating vines, the Ta Prohm temple retained the mysterious atmosphere of the past and became for many a highlight of the visit to the Angkor complex.

The Council of the French School of the Far East decided not to carry out a full-scale restoration in the temple, although, on the one hand, the trees were slowly destroying the monument, on the other, they had grown so much into the ancient walls that they became one with them.

Created by Jayavarman VII for his mother, and consecrated in 1186, Ta Prohm Temple has become a central part of the city as well as an active Buddhist monastery.

"Stone caves at the Dragon Gate (Longmen)

Longmen (literally "Stone Caves at the Dragon Gate") is a complex of Buddhist cave temples in the Chinese province of Henan, 12 km south of Luoyang. Along with Mogao and Yungang, it is considered one of the three most significant cave temple complexes in China. Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Luxor Temple (Luxor, Egypt)

Ancient people called Luxor in Egypt (then Thebes) "the city of palaces". Indeed, several magnificent temples have survived in Lukosr and its surroundings.

Hadrian's Val

Hadrian's Shaft stretches across northern England from the Irish to the North Sea. The wall was assembled from stones, peat and turf 5-6 ... Val Hadrian's fortress. The best preserved ruins of fortifications can be seen in the counties of Cumbria and Northumberland.

Baalbek (Bekaa, Lebanon)

Already in the 16th century in Europe it became known about the presence of grandiose ruins here, which became a must-see point for European travelers of the 19th century. Flaubert, Twain and Bunin left curious descriptions of their impressions of Baalbek.

And this is the largest processed stone. Riddle, how did the ancients manage?

Among all the wonders of antiquity, the Baalbek Veranda (Baalbek Terrace) occupies a special position.
From the guide:
An almost mystical history is associated with this city: when it was rediscovered by archaeologists, many came to the conclusion that it was the fruit of the construction of extraterrestrial civilizations that explored the solar system in antiquity. It was hard to believe that the huge blocks of the Baalbek terrace are the result of only human labor without the use of any high-tech mechanisms.

Coba (Quintana Roo, Mexico)

In the first millennium AD, Coba was the largest Mayan city with a population of 50 thousand people. After the Spanish conquistadors came to Yucatan, the Indians left the city, and the buildings gradually collapsed and overgrown with the jungle. The ruins of Koba were discovered at the end of the 19th century, but excavations are still ongoing.