Ancient Buildings Were Often Massive Recycling Projects

Medieval structures were frequently built using stolen stone from older ruins. This practice, known as spolia, means the walls of a cathedral might hide a Roman tombstone inside.

Imagine dismantling an ancient temple just to provide the bricks for a newer home or fortress. Builders viewed these old ruins as convenient, high-quality quarries rather than historical treasures. By embedding tombstones and decorative pillars into their own walls, they essentially recycled the past into a new foundation. This is why you can sometimes find forgotten carvings hiding in plain sight within centuries-old architecture.