mosaic

Mosaic is a contemporary art form with ancient roots and a rich cultural heritage. Mosaics were first created thousands of years ago and have appeared in cultures around the world and at different times in history ever since.

Although some magnificent finds indicate that peoples as widely dispersed in time and place as the Aztecs in Central America and the natives of New Guinea created mosaics as sacred objects, the preponderance of lasting examples shows that contemporary methods and styles derive mainly from European and Near Eastern traditions.

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is a technique of decorative art or interior decoration.

Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae; but some, especially floor mosaics, may also be made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called "pebble mosaics".