Panel 9 - Handcraft
In this panel we can learn about the construction processes of buildings in the Visigothic period, the tools they used and how construction was carried out.
1. Gold and Silver Work
Goldsmithing is among the most renowned elements of Visigothic society. In Reccopolis, the existence of workshops has been documented through the discovery, in the commercial building area, of tools for manufacturing prestigious objects such as rings, earrings, and pendants.
The limestone molds uncovered illustrate the manufacturing process for a bronze pendant. The metal was melted in a crucible using furnace heat, then poured into the mold with tongs. This liquid metal filled the carved grooves in the stone, forming the pendant’s design. Once poured, it was allowed to cool before separating the two mold halves, revealing the finished object ready for polishing.
2. Glass Production
Within one of the commercial buildings, a workshop for the production and sale of blown glass has been uncovered. It featured a circular furnace with abundant vitrification on its walls, and associated with it were found large quantities of fragmented glass, test pieces, and slag.
Dishes, glasses, cups, ointment jars, and bottles, among other objects of varying qualities, testify that glass was one of the most widely used materials in daily life in Reccopolis, where excavations continue to reveal new manufacturing area.
3. Decorative techniques
The sculptural elements found show a high degree of specialisation in decorative stone carving. Capitals, shafts, bases, pediments, pediments, cimaces, openwork crosses, fragments of sarcophagi with geometric, vegetal and figurative representations, both human and animal, document a sculptural tradition originating from the late Roman world and the artistic innovations of the Eastern Mediterranean.
