Servizi Culturali ed Informativi

NURAGIC TOWERS

The Nuraghe is the main archaeological monument of Sardinia, for which no parallel exists anywhere else. It’s today the symbol of Sardinia, of its unique ethnicity, that bear witness to an ancient culture from the Megalithic civilisation of the Mediterranean basin.
Today, there are more than 8,000 Nuraghes in Sardinia, though it has been estimated that once the number was more than 30,000; of the existing 8000 only a few have been scientifically excavated, that’s because interest in Sardinian archaeology has been minimal, except for the black market trade in bronze statues.
Archaeologists became interested in these buildings for the first time in the 16th century but it was only in the 19th century that they actually began scientific research and systematic studies.

The Nuraghe is a truncated cone (circular) tower, built with huge square blocks of stone and surmounted by an over hanging (SOSPESO) balcony; the interior is in the shape of a beehive, with a dome shaped roof (corbel-vaulted internal chambers), probably with a wooden loft that divided the upper tholos space into two rooms, one above the other, to make use of the space.
The stones (in origin rough, then carved) are placed in horizontal rows, one on top of the other, in tighter and tighter circles from the bottom upwards, narrowing towards the top until one or two stones finish the false dome.
The monument has no foundations, dry-laid stone form the walls and usually interior stairs spirals up to the roof or to a second (and sometimes a third) floor. It is only the weight and position of the stones that keeps the walls standing. The stones are well “tied in” one to the other using a building technique based on experience which ensured that the walls wouldn’t fall down. When the stones were laid, some were cut in order to fit perfectly.
The entrances are built using two columns and a lintel (ARCHITRAVE) with a small window above the lintel.
The ground floor room is illuminated by the light that manages to filter in from outside. This room is reached by a corridor with a niche (the so called "garetta") on its right for the guard and on its left the entrance to the stairs, which are built within the walls and is lit by a few small windows. This circular stairs leads to the upstairs rooms and to the balcony. In the walls of the rooms there are niches.

When nuraghes were built with a single tower there were often other towers built close by and they were connected to each other by large thick walls with walkways on top of them. The complex nuraghes were built from two extra towers until five extra towers.
Between the central tower and the other towers there were courtyards which allowed people to move from one tower to another.