ancient murals
Historic wall art
Ancient murals are paintings applied directly to walls or ceilings that have survived from early civilizations—Egyptian tombs, Roman villas, Buddhist caves.
The phrase emphasizes both age and the technique of painting on architectural surfaces rather than portable canvases: The ancient murals at Pompeii preserve everyday Roman life.
Discovery of ancient murals often reshapes understanding of past cultures.
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- hidden chambersConcealed enclosed spaces
- cave paintingsPrehistoric artwork on stone
- art restorationRepairing deteriorated creative works
- PompeiiVolcano-buried Roman city
tomb paintings · sacred images · wall paintings · tempera · pigments · natural dyes
- ancient artsculpture, sculptures, pottery, mosaics, frescoes
- Native American arttotem poles, Navajo rugs, dreamcatchers, featherwork, wampum
- Pre-Columbian artifactsclay figurines, ceramic vessels, stone carvings, burial goods, ritual objects
- Roman artfrescoes, Roman art, mosaic, Roman statues, Roman mosaics
- Southwest antiquitiescliff dwellings, pottery shards, petroglyphs, rock art, Ancestral Puebloans
ancient, ancients, anciently, ancientness, mural, murals, muralist, muralists