The Geology of Architecture

Petra is located in Jordan in the Middle East and is about 2300 years old. The capital of the Nabatean Kingdom, Petra was a significant piece of Architecture then and today. It shows a unique type of architecture of chiselling rooms out of rock. For it's time it was very advanced and up to 30,000 people lived there at its peak.

The Great Wall of China is, of course, located in China and spans from Beijing westwards for 21,196 km. Having been built majorly from the same rock that makes up the nearby mountains, the Great Wall of China is a geological masterpiece of architecture especially when you think how it was built over 2200 years ago with very limited tools. It is made of numerous different materials ranging between bones, and soil and remains one of the eight wonders of the world.

The Colosseum was built in Rome in the year 80 AD. The primary building material used in the construction of the Colosseum was travertine limestone which we have sourced a piece of from A F Jones Stonemasons. It is a centerpiece of Roman culture and gives in depth detail on the way they lived, but also their architecture of the time.

Roman Concrete is a special composite material which uses special components, such as lime and ash. This results in concrete which has stood for over 2,000 years. 

The geological architecture is so varied that we have selected 4 significant areas to look deeper into. St Paul's Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, The Geological Society building and Green Park Tube Station. They show a range of different architecture, and they come from different time periods too. For example, the Green Park Tube Station has been renovated only recently whereas St Paul's was built in 1675.

The Parthenon was built in 447 BC and is a monument to the ancient Greek God Athena. The Parthenon is a temple lying on top of the Acropolis which shows large examples of complex structural geology such as a thrust fault. The temple is made of marble and originally contained many ancient statues also made of marble.