Trophy (architectural)

For other uses, see Trophy (disambiguation).
Trophy in the 1st courtyard of Prague Castle
Trophy at the gate of the General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)

A trophy is an architectural ornament representing a group of weapons, banners and armour.[1] Similar decorative vertical arrangements of hunting accessories, musical instruments or other objects are also commonly referred to as trophies.

The term comes from the ancient Greek Tropaion and Roman equivalent Tropaeum, military victories which were commemorated with a display of captured arms, armour and standards.

The use of trophies as an architectural element started becoming popular during the baroque era, being either depicted as sculptures on gates to castles, as ornaments on victory monuments, or in a more two-dimensional stylised form on walls or even indoors in rooms.

References

  1. ↑ Osborne, Harold, The Oxford Companion to Art, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990, p. 1161-2
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