Polygonal masonry is a technique of stone wall construction. True polygonal masonry is a technique wherein the visible surfaces of the stones are dressed with straight sides or joints, giving the block the appearance of a polygon. This technique is found throughout the world and sometimes corresponds to the less technical category of

Cyclopean masonry Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

Places

Crimea

Chufut-Kale __NOTOC__ Chufut-Kale ( crh, Çufut Qale, italic=yes ; Russian and Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале - ''Chufut-Kale''; Karaim: Кала - קלעה - ''Kala'') is a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains that now lies in ruins. It is a nat ...

Mangup , settlement_type = Historic settlement , image_skyline = Mangup Fortress2.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Ruins of the Gate of the Citadel at Mangup , pushpin_map = Crimea , pushpin_re ...

* Vorontsov Palace

Easter Island

Ahu Vinapu Ahu Vinapu is an archaeological site on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in Eastern Polynesia. The ceremonial center of Vinapu includes one of the larger ahu on Rapa Nui. The ahu exhibits extraordinary stonemasonry consisting of large, carefully fitted ...

Ecuador

Ingapirca Ingapirca (Kichwa: ''Inka Pirka'', "Inca wall") is a town in Cañar Province, Ecuador, and the name of the older Inca ruins and archeological site nearby. These are the largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador. The most significant building is the ...

Finland

Bomarsund Fortress The Battle of Bomarsund, in August 1854, took place during the Åland War, which was part of the Crimean War, when an Anglo- French expeditionary force attacked a Russian fortress. It was the only major action of the war to take place at Bo ...

Suomenlinna Suomenlinna (; until 1918 Viapori, ), or Sveaborg (), is an inhabited sea fortress the Suomenlinna district is on eight islands of which six have been fortified; it is about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finl ...

Georgia

Anacopia Fortress Anacopia Fortress ( ka, ანაკოფია) is an ancient military citadel in New Athos (as it is currently known) in the disputed Republic of Abkhazia, located some 22 km (14 miles) by road along the coast from Sukhumi. The site, approxi ...

Ateni Sioni Church The Ateni Sioni Church ( ka, ატენის სიონი) is an early 7th-century Georgian Orthodox church in the village of Ateni, some south of the city of Gori, Georgia. It stands in a setting of Ateni gorge in the Tana River valley ...

Bagrati Cathedral The Cathedral of the Dormition, or the Kutaisi Cathedral, more commonly known as Bagrati Cathedral ( ka, ბაგრატი; , or ''Bagratis tadzari''), is an 11th-century cathedral in the city of Kutaisi, in the Imereti region of Georgia. A m ...

Gudarekhi Gudarekhi ( ka, გუდარეხი) is a village in Kvemo Kartli, Georgia, notable for a nearby monastic complex and archaeological site. It is located on a hill some 8 km north from the town Tetritsqaro, southwest of Georgia’s capital Tb ...

Gelati Monastery Gelati ( ka, გელათის მონასტერი) is a medieval monastic complex near Kutaisi in the Imereti region of western Georgia. One of the first monasteries in Georgia, it was founded in 1106 by King David IV of Georgia ...

Greece

* Delphi *

Keramikos Kerameikos (, ) also known by its Latinized form Ceramicus, is an area of Athens, Greece, located to the northwest of the Acropolis, which includes an extensive area both within and outside the ancient city walls, on both sides of the Dipylon G ...

* Nekromanteion

Hungary

Komárom Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...

Fort Monostor Fort Monostor ( hu, Monostori Erőd) (also referred to as Fort Sandberg) is a fort is situated close to the city of Komárom, Hungary. It was built between 1850 and 1871 like part of the fortification system of Komárom.Bizubova, Maria et alThe S ...

India

Vellore Fort Vellore Fort is a large 16th-century fort situated in heart of the Vellore city, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India built by Vijayanagara kings. The fort was at one time the headquarters of the Aravidu Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. The ...

Great Wall of India Kumbhalgarh (literally "Kumbhal fort") also known as the Great Wall of India is a Mewar fortress on the westerly range of Aravalli Hills, just about 48 km from Rajsamand city in the Rajsamand district of the Rajasthan state in western India. It ...

Murud Janjira Murud-Janjira () is the local name of a famous fort and tourist spot situated on an island just off the coastal town/city of Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. Origins of the name The word Janjira is a corruption of the arab ...

Indonesia

* Nias * Toraja

Iran

* Si-o-se-pol

Italy

In Italy, polygonal masonry is particularly indicative of the region of Latium, but it occurs also in Etruria, Lucania,

Samnium Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the Th ...

, and

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

; scholars including Giuseppe Lugli have carried out studies of the technique. Frank, T. 1924. "Roman buildings of the Republic: an attempt to date them from their materials." ''MAAR'' 3. Some notable sites that have fortification walls built in this technique include Norba, Signia,

Alatri Alatri ( la, Aletrium) is an Italian town and '' comune'' of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici,Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hernici". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ...

Boiano Bojano or Boiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso, Molise, south-central Italy. History Originally named Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri, a tribe of the Samnites, it played a m ...

Circeo Monte Circeo or Cape Circeo ( it, Promontorio del Circeo , la, Mons Circeius) is a mountain promontory that marks the southwestern limit of the former Pontine Marshes.located on the southwest coast of Italy near San Felice Circeo. At the nor ...

Cosa Cosa was a Latin colony founded in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, on land confiscated from the Etruscans, to solidify the control of the Romans and offer the Republic a protected port. The Etruscan site (called ''Cusi'' or ''Cosia'') may have ...

Alba Fucens Alba Fucens was an ancient Italic town occupying a lofty location (1,000 m) at the foot of the Monte Velino, c. 6.5 km north of Avezzano, Abruzzo, central Italy. Its remains are today in the ''comune'' of Massa d'Albe. History It was ...

, Palestrina, and Terracina. The Porta Rosa of the ancient city of Velia employs a variant of the technique known as Lesbian masonry. * Santa Severa *

Rialto Bridge The Rialto Bridge ( it, Ponte di Rialto; vec, Ponte de Rialto) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its f ...

Japan

Akō Castle is a flatland Japanese castle located in the city of Akō, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Built by the Asano clan in the Edo period, it was the center of Akō Domain in western Harima Province. The castle was designated a National Historic Site i ...

Fushimi Castle , also known as or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a Japanese castle located in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto. Fushimi Castle was constructed from 1592 to 1594 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the Sengoku period as his retirement residence. Fushimi Castle ...

Goryōkaku (literally, "five-point fort") is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo. History ''Goryōkaku'' was designed in ...

Nakagusuku Castle is a ''gusuku'' in the village of Kitanakagusuku, Okinawa, Japan. It is one of a number of castles built on the island of Okinawa by the Ryukyu Kingdom now in ruins. The legendary Ryukyuan commander, Gosamaru, built the fortress in the early 1 ...

Nijō Castle is a flatland castle in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings ( Kuruwa) of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is ...

Odawara Castle is a landmark in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. History Odawara was a stronghold of the Doi clan during the Kamakura period, and a fortified residence built by their collateral branch, the Kobayakawa clan, stood on the ...

* Oka Castle * Osaka Castle * Shibata Castle *

Shuri Castle was a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroyed. ...

Uwajima Castle 270px, Aerial view of Uwajima Castle is a ''hirayama-jiro'' Japanese castle located in the city of Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. An alternate name for this castle is Tsurushima-jō. The castle is one of twelve Japanese castles to still have an original ...

Latvia

* Daugavpils

Malta

Corradino Lines The Corradino Lines ( mt, Is-Swar ta' Kordin) are a line of fortification on the Corradino Heights in Paola, Malta. They were built between 1871 and 1880 by the British. Today, the lines are partly intact and they lie in an industrial area. Hist ...

Ħaġar Qim Ħaġar Qim (; "Standing/Worshipping Stones") is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BC). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religiou ...

Megalithic Temples of Malta The Megalithic Temples of Malta ( mt, It-Tempji Megalitiċi ta' Malta) are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island co ...

Mexico

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan ( Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as ...

Montenegro

Entrance to Stützpunkt Grabovac, Fort Trašte

* Fort Gorazda * Fort Trašte *

Lovćen Lovćen ( cyrl, Ловћен, ) is a mountain and national park in southwestern Montenegro. It is the inspiration behind the names ''Montenegro'' and ''Crna Gora'', both of which mean "Black Mountain" and refer to the appearance of Mount Lov� ...

Morocco

Lixus Lixus may refer to: * ''lixus'', the Latin word for "boiled" * Lixus (ancient city) in Morocco * ''Lixus (beetle)'', a genus of true weevils * Lixus, one of the sons of Aegyptus and Caliadne Caliadne (; Ancient Greek: Καλιάδνης ) or Cali ...

Peru

Sacsayhuamán, Cusco, Perú, 2015-07-31, DD 27

Chinchero Chinchero District is one of seven districts of the Urubamba Province in Peru. It is the location for the proposed Chinchero International Airport, which would serve travelers to the Cusco Region. Geography One of the highest peaks of the dist ...

* Chullpa Towers *

Coricancha Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire. ...

Inti Watana, Ayacucho Inti Watana, Intiwatana (Quechua, hispanicized spelling ''Intihuatana'') or Pumaqucha (Quechua ''puma'' cougar, puma, ''qucha'' lake, "puma lake", hispanicized spellings ''Pomaccocha, Pomacocha, Pumacocha'') is an archaeological site in Peru. It ...

Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo ( qu, Ullantaytampu) is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamb ...

Raqch'i Raqch'i (Quechua) is an Inca archaeological site in Peru located in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, San Pedro District, near the populated place Raqch'i. It is 3480 meters above sea level and 110 kilometers from the city of Cuzco.Sillar (2 ...

* Saksaywaman * Tambomachay *

Tarawasi Tarahuasi (possibly from Quechua '' tara'' ''(Caesalpinia spinosa)'', a small tree native to Peru, ''wasi'' house)Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) is an archaeologi ...

* Usnu * Vilcabamba *

Vilcashuamán Vilcashuamán or Vilcasguaman (from Quechua Willka Waman, "sacred hawk") is the capital of Vilcas Huamán Province, Ayacucho region, Peru. It is located at an altitude of 3,490 m on the eastern slopes of the Andes. It is located on an ancient ar ...

* Wanuku Pampa *

Twelve-angled_stone The twelve-angled stone is an archeological artifact in Cuzco, Peru. It was part of a stone wall of an Inca palace, and is considered to be a national heritage object. The stone is currently part of a wall in the palace of the Archbishop of Cuzco. ...

Philippines

Fort Pilar The Real Fuerte de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (''Royal Fort of Our Lady of the Pillar of Saragossa''), also Fort Pilar, is a 17th-century military defense fortress built by the Spanish colonial government in Zamboanga City. The fort, w ...

Fort San Pedro Fort San Pedro ( es, Fuerte de San Pedro) is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in ...

Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira ''Quinta da Regaleira'' is a quinta located near the historic centre of Sintra, Portugal. It is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO within the "Cultural Landscape of Sintra". Along with the other palaces in the area such as the Quinta ...

Romania

Curtea de Argeș Cathedral The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș (early 16th century) is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. It is located on the grounds of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, and is dedicated to Dormition of the Mother of God. The buildin ...

Iulia Hasdeu Castle The Iulia Hașdeu Castle is a folly built in the form of small castle by historian and politician Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu in the city of Câmpina, Romania. Work on it began in 1893, after Hasdeu's daughter, Iulia Hasdeu, died at the age of 1 ...

* Orăștioara de Sus * Sarmisegetusa

Russia

* Fort Alexander *

Königsberg Castle The Königsberg Castle (german: Königsberger Schloss, russian: Кёнигсбергский замок, Konigsbergskiy zamok) was a castle in Königsberg, Germany (since 1946 Kaliningrad, Russia), and was one of the landmarks of the East Pruss ...

Spain

* Castell d'Olèrdola * Les Ferreres Aqueduct

Sudan

Meroë Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: or ; ar, مرواه, translit=Meruwah and ar, مروي, translit=Meruwi, label=none; grc, Μερόη, translit=Meróē) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east ...

Sweden

Älvsborg fortress Älvsborg Fortress ( sv, Älvsborgs fästning), with its main facility Oscar II's Fort ( sv, Oscar II:s fort) built 1899–1907, is a now-defunct Swedish fortification located at the mouth of the Göta River in the Älvsborg district of Gothenb ...

Vaberget Fortress Vaberget Fortress ( sv, Vabergets fästning) is a fortress located five kilometers west of Karlsborg Fortress, by lake Vättern, in Västergötland, Sweden. The southern fort at Vaberget Fortress was the first fort in the world that fully used th ...

Syria

Arwad Arwad, the classical Aradus ( ar, أرواد), is a town in Syria on an eponymous island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative center of the Arwad Subdistrict (''nahiyah''), of which it is the only locality.Hosn Suleiman Baitokaike * Bara * Barad * Barjaka * Basufan * Bauda BaudaS,pyramidtomb

* Benastur Monastery *

Church of Saint Simeon Stylites The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites ( ar, كنيسة مار سمعان العمودي , Kanīsat Mār Simʿān el-ʿAmūdī) is one of the oldest surviving church complexes, founded in the 5th century. It is located approximately northwestern of ...

* Churches of Sheikh Suleiman village *

Cyrrhus Cyrrhus (; el, Κύρρος ''Kyrrhos'') is a city in ancient Syria founded by Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals. Other names for the city include Coricium, Corice, Hagioupolis, Nebi Huri ( ar, نبي هوري), and Khoros ...

* Dana * Deir Qeita * Jarada * Kharab Shams Basilica *

Mount Simeon Mount Simeon or Mount Simon ( ar, جبل سمعان Jabal Simʻān ), also called Mount Laylūn ( ar, جبل ليلون, is a highland region in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The mountain is located in the Mount Simeon and Aʻzāz distric ...

* Mushabbak Basilica * Refade *

Serjilla Serjilla ( ar, سيرجيلة) is one of the best preserved of the Dead Cities in northwestern Syria, containing about 700 sites. It is located in the Jebel Riha, approximately 65 km north from Hama and 80 km southwest from Aleppo, ve ...

Qalb Loze Qalb Loze ( ar, قلب لوزة, also spelled Qalb Lawzah or Qalb Lozeh) is a Druze village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate located about west of Aleppo. It is situated near the border with Turkey, in the Hari ...

* Qatura

Thailand

* Phi Mai *

Phanom Rung Phanom Rung ( th, พนมรุ้ง, ), or full name, Prasat Hin Phanom Rung ( th, ปราสาทหินพนมรุ้ง – ''Phanom Rung Stone Castle''), is a Hindu Khmer Empire temple complex set on the rim of an extinct volcan ...

Turkey

Enderun School The Enderun School ( ota, اندرون مکتب, Enderûn Mektebi) was a palace school and boarding school within Topkapi Palace. It was mostly for Princes of the court and the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Students here were primarily recr ...

* Efes *

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

Hattusa Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of ...

* Lyrbe *

Selimiye Barracks Selimiye Barracks ( tr, Selimiye Kışlası), also known as Scutari Barracks, is a Turkish Army barracks located in the Üsküdar district on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. It was originally built in 1800 by Sultan Selim III for the sol ...

United Kingdom

Gloucester Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to ...

Maes Howe Maeshowe (or Maes Howe; non, Orkhaugr) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around . In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered ...

Stanton Moor Stanton Moor is a small upland area in the Derbyshire Peak District of central northern England, lying between Matlock and Bakewell near the villages of Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak. It is known for its megaliths – particularly the Nine La ...

United States

The Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Ant ...

* Harsimus Stem Embankment *

Hearst Castle Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada ( Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his arch ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

References

* P. Gros. 1996. ''L'architecture romaine: du début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire''. 2 v. Paris: Picard. {{DEFAULTSORT:Polygonal Masonry Masonry