To an artist, a wall is an invitation to execute art or hang art. If it is authorized, it is referred to as wall art. If it is unauthorized, it is referred to as graffiti. I remember seeing contemporary graffiti by Lord Byron on the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion in Greece. You also find it in many public rest rooms. Even parts of the Hadrian Wall were not spared. Recently excavations have uncovered what appears to be Roman writing on the wall by Roman soldiers.

ROMAN GRAFFITI ON HADRIAN WALL

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/27/written-rock-gelt-roman-graffiti-cumbria-quarry-wall-to-be-photogrammed

We find art and graffiti on many walls both recent and ancient, as shown in the images below. In the last blog they found art behind a wall on a wall.

Wall Fragment from the Tomb of Amenemhet and His Wife Hemet

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian Wall Fragment from the Tomb of Amenembat and His Wife Hermet. Google Art Project.jpg#filehistory

BERLIN WALL GRAFFITI

https://pixabay.com/photos/berlin-wall-graffiti-painting-526521/Public Domain Image Wall, Art, Graffiti, BERLIN WALL

STREET ART (Graffiti)

https://www.dreamstime.com/wall-art-graffiti-street-art-public-domain-image-free-108523593Public Domain Image Wall, Art, Graffiti, Street Art

We have walls to keep people in, such as the prison wall. We have walls to keep people out such as the walls and castles in Medieval times. We are fascinated with walls. We at times develop mental walls in order to isolate ourselves, our ideas and our feelings and even our biases. We begin life surrounded by a mother’s tissue. We often have an early experience with the walls of a crib or playpen. Later we experience the privacy of the walled in bathroom. We have walls to separate rooms in a home and fences around the yard. Walls seem to be a contemporary topic of interest and discussion. In some religious practices, when a person dies, it is important to leave a window or door open so his or her spirit can leave the confines of the house and be free. We seem to be surrounded by walls.

Some walls even have names such as the Berlin wall, Hadrian’s Wall, the Great Wall of China and the wall of Jericho.We have many lesser-known walls such as Antoninie wall in England, Western Wall in Jerusalem,Wall of Ston in Croatia and the great Zimbabwe Walls in Zimbabwe. Wall street is of a different catagory.

Around 122 A.D., the Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a stone barrier to protect Roman Britain from the Picts and the other “barbarian” tribes that inhabited northern England and Scotland. The Hadrian Wall was 73  miles long. The width varied between between 10 to 20 feet and the height varied between 11 to 20 feet according to the construction materials available nearby. The wall was made from mostly squared stone but in some cases turf.