The Roof Tile Appreciation Club

Yes, I know – it sounds like a silly joke? What could possibly be interesting about a roof tile? We had a big surprise and a big success in EVEHD when a volunteer turned over a roof tile in Romania’s Apuseni mountains and a real story of European heritage discovery was set in motion. And the ‘Roof Tile Appreciation Club’? Well, it started as a bit of a joke but it really helped – volunteers like to belong to a recognised group. Membership of the group can only happen if that person discovers an interesting logo on a roof-tile; the membership is a reward – a good way to engage.

The Apuseni tile had a wonderful bold image of a tiger on it. A trade mark that used the symbolism of the fierce grip of a tigers claws and teeth – both showing very clearly. Whoever saw the trademark was meant to think (we believe) that these roof tiles held tight!

The discovery of this zoomorphic symbol and the posting and blogging about it was like opening a flood gate. Romanian examples of logos depicting wolves, lions, bears, elephants (see collected images below) – all found by volunteers – soon followed. The discoveries continue; just a week before this article was written, a buffalo, spread eagle, galloping horse and eagle with a snake in its beak were discovered.

After the great Romanian examples, an EVEHD action in rural Turkey turned up logos of a hawk, an eagle with snake, horse and elephant – and a bit later on, a stork.

Turkish zoomorphic roof tile logos

What on earth was going on? No books, web pages or internet resources gave any clues – we had stumbled on some truly original heritage discovery. We (partner staff & volunteers) discussed why so many roof tiles had zoomorphic logos and tried to find linkages and a common thread. The symbolism of the animal or bird seems quite clear, all about power, strength, reliability, tenacity even. .... but why in Romania and Turkey? 

Moment of discovery! Ioana, a school teacher from Alba Iulia in Romania with Alina from the nearby Trascau Mountains (see her eyes, shining with excitement!) 

We began to think the common link was the Ottomans – they had a great historical impact in Romania and their textiles, clothing styles, food was much copied and imitated – why not the way a roof tile was marked?

When Peter Kaiser from Germany turned over a tile in Bosnia-Herzegovina,

he was startled to see a beautifully sculpted lion symbol. This seemed to add weight to the Ottoman theory, so when Cypriot colleagues began to discover bee, cicada, butterfly, swan, elephant and deer logos, we were pretty well convinced that Ottoman Turks had spread the practice around. Some of the tiles in Cyprus came from the south of France – but we know the Ottomans and Moors had influence there...

Uwe and Caroline (below) from Germany found this great deer logo in Cyprus – although it is so like the symbol of Rhodes it surely comes from there?

Responses to facebook postings on the EVEHD page and a link to the ‘Roman Empire History Group’, began to make us think again. A volunteer from Italy sent a picture of a Roman roof tile with a wild boar motif – then another one cropped up – also Roman. Peter (Above with swan logo discovery)had a theory and we discussed it very much with volunteers, that working people in the past usually were not able to read and the tile makers probably thought that a strong logo would mean more than words. Now after 2 years of great roof tile discoveries, we think the Romans were surely responsible.

Above: Roman roof tile with wild boar

The discoveries continue, Nicola and Libby from the UK (below first & second) found the rare Romanian ‘Elephant’ logo tile and a Serbian lion; Nicola said “who would ever have imagined that such beautiful historical things existed in a pile of old broken tiles by the roadside’. Velislava from Bulgaria sent a lion logo image (third inmage below) in a few days ago and said, ‘especially for EVEHD, roof tiles with animal figures can be found everywhere, this one from a Bulgarian village roof repair” – we are certain that there are many, many more great zoomorphic logos to discover – and a big group of volunteers from across Europe have found a common identity and purpose.

The importance for EVEHD

One beauty of the EVEHD project is that heritage discoveries are not always planned but rather lie in the path (and hands) of the many volunteers who have been engaged. The discovery of these zoomorphic roof tile logos and the research and discovery of Ottoman and Roman history was completely unplanned and unexpected. The discovery was real and totally new, with no reference material available. Especially important have been the linkages – so far EVEHD partners in Turkey, Romania and Slovakia have discovered zoomorphic logo’s – but Serbs, Bulgarians, Cypriots, French, and Greek volunteers have shared the discovery through sending in images of their own discoveries.... and...of course, they’ve become members of the ‘Roof Tile Appreciation Club’. Very importantly, the roof tile theme has attracted young and older volunteers and proved to be equally gripping to both groups – a real bridge over the generation gap.
 The collected roof zoomorphic roof tile logos we discovered in Romania with Malina and Antonia who lead the discovery team there; the tiger that started it all is 2nd row down on the left. 

On a final note, the zoomorphic logo’s are so beautiful and durable that volunteers have been keen to put them to use – they are not ancient and rare artefacts, so jewellery, oven decoration and art are great uses.

Alexandra, a volunteer from Blaj in Romania took part in a folk tale photoshoot (directed by Adriana Patkova from Slovakia) that featured a modern day telling of ‘Little Red Riding-hood’. She wore this ‘wolf of Apolónia’ charm for protection against the wolf. It was made by another volunteer, Alex, from Scotland, who used the wolf logo from the tile factory at Sântimbru near Alba Iulia in Romania. By getting involved in fashion, drama, art and photography, a whole new cohort of volunteers were engaged by the zoomorphic roof tile theme.

Also pictured is a wonderful outdoor oven in Cyprus. A volunteer there, Martin, was so taken up by the logo of the Limassol Brick and Tile Company, that he decided to cover his oven! The logo features a bee, so he cut out hexagons from old tiles to mimic honeycomb. He said – “when I was covering the oven, a group of local people gathered around and we ended up talking about ceramics, terracotta and the importance of bees”.

Martin David Clark