Latest news with #Mola
The Star
5 days ago
- General
- The Star
A jigsaw puzzle for the ages
In an undated image provided by the Museum of London Archaeology, fragments of painted wall plaster that date to the early Roman occupation of the area around London, which began in AD 43, were found four years ago during routine excavations at a construction site. — The New York Times THE jigsaw puzzles that Han Li assembled at the Museum of London Archaeology, or Mola, are as bewildering as a Latin riddle. Li, a building-material specialist at the institution, has spent much of the year laying out 'thousands upon thousands upon thousands' of fragments of painted wall plaster that date to the early Roman occupation of the area around London, which began in 43AD. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This Newly Reconstructed Wall Painting Gives Us Rare Insight Into Roman London
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." After four years of reconstruction, the remains of a painted wall in Roman London, founded in AD 43, have a big story to tell. Since 2021, archaeologists from the The Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) have been trying to match thousands of pieces of the fallen fresco wall, believed to have come from a luxe villa. Found in Southwark, near the Thames River, it's one of three major discoveries in the same area that's currently being developed by Landsec in Southwark, according to the BBC. Among the finds is a mosaic floor—the largest of its kind found in the last 50 years. The floor patterns include a guilloche, Solomon's knot, flowers, and geometric patterns, thought to be the work of a known band of mosaicists, called the Acanthus group, who made a distinct style found in other unearthed works in Germany, suggesting that the band traveled. The floor panels were found along with a handful of objects associated with Romans of status. This, alongside the cemetery found at the same site, believed to be for wealthy Romans, leads archaeologists to see the story behind the reconstructed wall as one of Romans investing in Londinium. "There was this thriving, bustling settlement quite early on in the Roman period, and it's almost the kind of wealthy suburb—the Beverly Hills of Roman London," Andrew Henderson-Schwartz of Mola told the BBC. The patterns revealed after the plaster pieces were put in order by senior building material specialist Han Li and a team of experts show fruit, flowers painted with a rare, bright yellow, people, and instruments like the lyre. Perhaps most curiously, the word 'fecit' appears, which would roughly translate to 'has made this." Though the name that might have followed hasn't yet been uncovered, the team is hopeful. If and when it does, it will tell us who this nearly 2,000-year-old interiors painter to the Roman stars was. "The group or groups of painters responsible for creating these frescos took inspiration from wall decorations in other parts of the Roman world," writes Mola. "...These paintings were designed to show off both the wealth and excellent taste of the building's owner or owners." In another interesting turn, however, this wall, painted at some point after Londinium was founded and before AD 150, was torn down, according to Mola, by AD 200. "These beautiful frescoes once decorated around twenty internal walls of the building; however, the enormity of our find wasn't immediately obvious. That's because the decorated plaster was found dumped in a large pit, shattered in thousands of fragments—the result of Roman demolition works to clear the old building." Fashion, it seems, has always been fickle, and keeping up with it has always been paramount. You Might Also Like From the Archive: Tour Sarah Jessica Parker's Relaxed Hamptons Retreat 75 Small (But Mighty) Kitchens to Steal Inspiration from Right This Instant
Kuwait Times
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Toulouse hold off Bayonne to reach Top 14 final
RHONE: Toulouse's French prop Cyril Baille (center) is tackled during the French Top14 semi-final rugby union match between Stade Toulousain Rugby (Toulouse) and Aviron Bayonnais (Bayonne) at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Decines-Charpieu on June 20, 2025. - AFP DECINES-CHARPIEU: Defending champions Toulouse held off Bayonne 32-25 on Friday to advance to the final of the Top 14 where they will play the winners of the second semi-final between Bordeaux-Begles and Toulon. Toulouse scored two tries through half-backs Romain Ntamack and Paul Graou, while full-back Thomas Ramos kicked 22 points. But Ugo Mola's side were pushed hard in the sweltering Lyon heat, failing to erase the doubts of their 35-18 defeat in the Champions Cup semi-finals against Bordeaux-Begles in early May. Bordeaux-Begles face Toulon in Saturday's second semi-final. Bayonne, playing their first semi-final since 1983, were only trailing 20-15 at halftime but buckled in the second half. 'In this type of match, Toulouse often comes out on top because they have the experience,' said Bayonne coach Gregory Patat. 'They controlled the game at their own pace, with their own know-how. 'We should have scored a few more to get back into the game, to see where they (Toulouse) really stand.' A succession of injuries in the last few months to Antoine Dupont, Peato Mauvaka, Blair Kinghorn, who returned on Friday night, and Ange Capuozzo, had raised Toulouse concerns but they came through to stamp their ticket for next week's final at the Stade de France. 'Regarding commitment, and certainly what I needed answers on, we got answers,' said Mola. 'We were there. And we hadn't really hit the ground running for two months.' Two-time defending champions and already qualified for the semi-finals several weeks ago, Toulouse had delivered several poor performances in recent weeks, including a defeat to Perpignan on the final day of the regular season. 'This match was choppy, with a lack of rhythm, small mistakes, and minor errors that put us in a bit of difficulty,' Mola acknowledged. 'It was a tough and Mola was left frustrated by the pileup of penalties conceded by his team, which Bayonne fly-half Joris Segonds took advantage of to keep his side in the game, scoring 18 points in total. Former Stade Français fly-half Segonds gave his team an early lead 6-3 after 10 minutes. But the reigning French champions fronted up physically and produced flashes of brilliance, with Argentinean Juan Cruz Mallia finding a gap for Ntamack to touch down his third try in three matches. Bayonne were opportunistic but struggled to put Toulouse under any real pressure in their own half. Ntamack set up Graou for Toulouse's second try after 31 minutes. Segonds' six penalties kept Bayonne in touch but they were always playing catch-up. — AFP Ramos punished the Basques with the boot taking Toulouse out to a 32-18 lead before Lucas Martin's consolation try for Bayonne in the final minute. 'We saw a team that was used to controlling this type of match,' said Patat of Toulouse who were playing in their sixth consecutive semi-final. 'A match like this is significant,' added Bayonne's former France fly-half Camille Lopez after his final match with the club. 'It allowed us to gain experience. I hope the squad will build on this.' Toulouse are now angling for a fifth crown in seven seasons since the first title won by this generation in 2018-2019. The June 28 final at the Stade de France will be the 31st in Toulouse's storied history.- AFP
France 24
21-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Defending champions Toulouse hold off Bayonne to reach Top 14 final
Toulouse scored two tries through half-backs Romain Ntamack and Paul Graou, while full-back Thomas Ramos kicked 22 points. But Ugo Mola's side were pushed hard in the sweltering Lyon heat, failing to erase the doubts of their 35-18 defeat in the Champions Cup semi-finals against Bordeaux-Begles in early May. Bordeaux-Begles face Toulon in Saturday's second semi-final. Bayonne, playing their first semi-final since 1983, were only trailing 20-15 at halftime but buckled in the second half. "In this type of match, Toulouse often comes out on top because they have the experience," said Bayonne coach Gregory Patat. "They controlled the game at their own pace, with their own know-how. "We should have scored a few more to get back into the game, to see where they (Toulouse) really stand." A succession of injuries in the last few months to Antoine Dupont, Peato Mauvaka, Blair Kinghorn, who returned on Friday night, and Ange Capuozzo, had raised Toulouse concerns but they came through to stamp their ticket for next week's final at the Stade de France. "Regarding commitment, and certainly what I needed answers on, we got answers," said Mola. "We were there. And we hadn't really hit the ground running for two months." Two-time defending champions and already qualified for the semi-finals several weeks ago, Toulouse had delivered several poor performances in recent weeks, including a defeat to Perpignan on the final day of the regular season. "This match was choppy, with a lack of rhythm, small mistakes, and minor errors that put us in a bit of difficulty," Mola acknowledged. "It was a tough and physically demanding match." Indiscipline Mola was left frustrated by the pileup of penalties conceded by his team, which Bayonne fly-half Joris Segonds took advantage of to keep his side in the game, scoring 18 points in total. Former Stade Français fly-half Segonds gave his team an early lead 6-3 after 10 minutes. But the reigning French champions fronted up physically and produced flashes of brilliance, with Argentinian Juan Cruz Mallia finding a gap for Ntamack to touch down his third try in three matches. Bayonne were opportunistic but struggled to put Toulouse under any real pressure in their own half. Ntamack set up Graou for Toulouse's second try after 31 minutes. Segonds' six penalties kept Bayonne in touch but they were always playing catch-up. Ramos punished the Basques with the boot taking Toulouse out to a 32-18 lead before Lucas Martin's consolation try for Bayonne in the final minute. "We saw a team that was used to controlling this type of match," said Patat of Toulouse who were playing in their sixth consecutive semi-final. "A match like this is significant," added Bayonne's former France fly-half Camille Lopez after his final match with the club. "It allowed us to gain experience. I hope the squad will build on this." Toulouse are now angling for a fifth crown in seven seasons since the first title won by this generation in 2018-2019. The June 28 final at the Stade de France will be the 31st in Toulouse's storied history.
North Wales Chronicle
19-06-2025
- General
- North Wales Chronicle
Archaeological ‘jigsaw' reveals 2,000-year-old Roman wall paintings
Archaeologists have spent four years working on thousands of fragments of shattered plaster discovered at a site in Southwark, near London Bridge station and Borough Market, in 2021 to painstakingly piece together the artwork of a high-status Roman building. It is believed the frescoes once decorated at least 20 internal walls between AD 40 and 150, before the building was demolished and the wall plaster dumped into a pit before the start of the third century. But now the reconstruction of the wall art has shed further light on high society in Roman Britain. The paintings – which display bright yellow panel designs with black intervals, decorated with beautiful images of birds, fruit, flowers, and lyres – demonstrate both the wealth and taste of the building's owners, according to the excavation team at the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola). Yellow panel designs were scarce in the Roman period, and repeating yellow panels found at the site in Southwark were even scarcer, making the discovery extremely rare. Among the fragments is rare evidence of a painter's signature – the first known example of this practice in Britain. Framed by a 'tabula ansata', a carving of a decorative tablet used to sign artwork in the Roman world, it contains the Latin word 'fecit' which translates to 'has made this'. But the fragment is broken where the painter's name would have appeared, meaning their identity will likely never be known. Unusual graffiti of the ancient Greek alphabet has also been reconstructed – the only example of this inscription found to date in Roman Britain. The precision of the scored letters suggests that it was done by a proficient writer and not someone undertaking writing practice. Some fragments imitate high-status wall tiles, such as red Egyptian porphyry – a crystal-speckled volcanic stone – framing the elaborate veins of African giallo antico – a yellow marble. Inspiration for the wall decorations was taken from other parts of the Roman world – such as Xanten and Cologne in Germany, and Lyon in France. It took three months for Mola senior building material specialist Han Li to lay out all the fragments and reconstruct the designs to their original place. He said: 'This has been a 'once-in-a-lifetime' moment, so I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when I started to lay the plaster out. 'Many of the fragments were very delicate and pieces from different walls had been jumbled together when the building was demolished, so it was like assembling the world's most difficult jigsaw puzzle. 'I was lucky to have been helped by my colleagues in other specialist teams for helping me arrange this titanic puzzle as well as interpret ornaments and inscriptions – including Ian Betts and the British School at Rome – who gave me their invaluable opinions and resources. 'The result was seeing wall paintings that even individuals of the late Roman period in London would not have seen.' Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Mr Li said: 'When you are looking at thousands of fragments of wall paintings every day, you start to commit everything to memory. 'You are sometimes working when you are sleeping as well. 'There was one time that I thought that this fragment goes here, and I woke up and it actually happened – so you could say I was working a double shift. 'But it's a beautiful end result.' One fragment features the face of a crying woman with a Flavian period (AD 69-96) hairstyle, hinting at the time period it may have been created. Work to further explore each piece of plaster continues.
