The hexafoil is a design with six-fold dihedral symmetry composed from six vesica piscis lenses arranged radially around a central point, often shown enclosed in a circumference of another six lenses. It is also sometimes known as a "daisy wheel". [1] A second, quite different, design is also sometimes referred to by this name; see alternate symbol.
The design is found as a rosette ornament in artwork dating back to at least the Late Bronze Age. [2]
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| The seven overlapping circles grid forms a triangular lattice, seen here with hexagonal rings of 1, 7, 19, 37, 61, 91 circles. [3] |
The pattern figure can be drawn by pen and compass, by creating seven interlinking circles of the same diameter touching the previous circle's center. The second circle is centered at any point on the first circle. All following circles are centered on the intersection of two other circles. 
The design is sometimes expanded into a regular overlapping circles grid. Bartfeld (2005) describes the construction: "This design consists of circles having a 1-[inch] radius, with each point of intersection serving as a new center. The design can be expanded ad infinitum depending upon the number of times the odd-numbered points are marked off." [4]
The hexafoil has been very widely used throughout European folk art for a very long period of time. It is attested from at least the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, [2] represented, for example, on ornamental golden disks found in Shaft Grave III at Mycenae (16th century BC). [5] It is also found in some Cantabrian stelae, dated to the Iron Age, as well as Norwegian bronze kettles from the same period [6]
The six-petal rosette is common in 17th to 20th century folk art throughout Europe.
In Portugal, it is common to find it in medieval churches and cathedrals, as the engraved signature of a mason; but also as decoration and symbol of protection on the chimneys of old houses in Alentejo (at times together with the lauburu, or with the pentagram).
In Galicia (Spain) and all the Cantabrian mountains hexafoils are found since the Iron Age in torc terminals and decoration, and is still used in folk art. [7]
It can also be found in the Pyrenees (Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia). [8] Since 2003 the hexafoil is being used as the logo of the Alt Pirineu Natural Park, the largest of Catalonia. [9]
In the United Kingdom the hexafoil is commonly found on churches, but also in barns and private buildings, as well as on cross slabs. [6] The use of the hexafoil as a folk magic symbol was brought from the United Kingdom to Australia by settlers, where six leaf designs with concentric circles have been found in homes and occasionally in public buildings to serve as a sign of protection. [10] [11]
The hexafoil was also widely used on gravestones in Colonial America, especially popular in parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The design was commonly used from the later 17th century until the early 19th century.
The design is also known as "Sun of the Alps" (Sole delle Alpi) in Italy from its widespread use in alpine folk art. [12] It resembles a pattern often found in that area on buildings. [13] It is used in the coat of arms of Lecco Province. It has also been used as the emblem of Padanian nationalism in northern Italy since the 1990s. In 2001, Editoriale Nord, the publishing company of La Padania, registered the green-on-white design as a trademark. [14]
In Norway it can mostly be found on wooden objects, such as beer bowls, clothes smoothing boards, milk butts, wooden chests, beds, and so on, but it can also be found on the doors of buildings. In Norwegian it's sometimes known as "Olavsrose" (rose of Olaf), although that name is used for another symbol as well. [6]
In Lithuania the hexafoil was found on wooden beer bowls, on spindles, but also on other wooden objects. It is known as "little sun" (saulute) in Lithuanian. [6]
In the Tatra mountains, southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, the mark was commonly carved on roof beams inside peasant huts. In Ukraine it was known as "the symbol of Perun" (Peruna znak) and "the thunder mark" (gromovoi znak). [15]
In the Russian North the hexafoil was carved near the outside roof of peasant houses to protect them against lightning. The symbol was known as the thunder sign (gromovoi znak) or the thunder wheel (gromovoe koleso), and was associated with the thunder god Perun. [16]
The origin and meaning of the symbol are not known, but many researchers have independently suggested that it is of religious origin, [17] and very likely served as a protective symbol. [18] [1] [16] There are two main theories for its meaning and origin.
Peralta Labrador (1989) cites a proposal according to which the design in the La Tène (Celtic) period was a solar symbol associated with the god Taranis. [19] Other researchers have also described it as a solar symbol, [20] [1] but no reasoning for this has been given. However, the Lithuanian ("little sun") and Italian ("sun of the Alps") names do suggest a solar origin.
Garshol (2021) suggests that the rosette is actually a wheel with spokes, and that it originally signified the Proto-Indo-European thunder god Perkwunos, later becoming associated with his various incarnations, such as Perun, Tarḫunz, Taranis, Thor, and Jupiter. The Russian and Ukrainian names of the symbol, as well as other more involved arguments, are given as rationale. [6]
The name hexafoil is sometimes also used to refer to a different geometric design that is used as a traditional element of Gothic architecture, [21] created by overlapping six circular arcs to form a flower-like image. [22] [23] The hexafoil design is modeled after the six petal lily, for its symbolism of purity and relation to the Trinity. [24] The hexafoil form is created from a series of compound units, and exists as a more complex variation of the same extruded figure. [25] Other forms similar to the hexafoil include the trefoil, quatrefoil, and cinquefoil. [26]
The other hexafoil design is implemented in various Gothic buildings constructed in the 12th through 16th century. The traditional design is used in cloisters, triforiums and stained glass windows of famous buildings such as Notre-Dame, Salisbury Cathedral, and Regensburg Cathedral. [27] Stone cut-out hexafoils are displayed in a plate tracery style in the Salisbury Cathedral, creating a pattern along the triforium. [28]
It can also be seen as a framing design in Bible moralisée. [29] They are often rendered in red, blue, gold, or vibrant orange and surround biblical scenes in the bible. [29] [30] The hexafoil style of framing was often used in conjunction with architectural framing to provide the text with more depth, creativity, invention, and volume. [29] Old Testament illustrations were surrounded by hexafoil frames while moralization depictions favored architectural frames. [30]
Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief of a divine creator of the universal geometer. The geometry used in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles has sometimes been considered sacred. The concept applies also to sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens, pagodas and holy wells, Mandala Gardens and the creation of religious and spiritual art.
Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against the academicism, eclecticism and historicism of 19th century architecture and decorative art.
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly popular in the Ancient Roman world.
A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines. A mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through layers.
In Celtic mythology, Taranis is the god of thunder, who was worshipped primarily in Gaul, Hispania, Britain, and Ireland, but also in the Rhineland and Danube regions, amongst others. Taranis, along with Esus and Toutatis, was mentioned by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic deity to whom human sacrificial offerings were made. Taranis was associated, as was the Cyclops Brontes ("thunder") in Greek mythology, with the wheel.
A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra wielded by the god Indra. It may have been a symbol of cosmic order, as expressed in the fragment from Heraclitus describing "the Thunderbolt that steers the course of all things".
Slavic mythology or Slavic paganism is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century.
In the pre-Christian religion of Eastern and Southern Slavs, Rod is the god of the family, ancestors and fate, perhaps as the supreme god. Among Southern Slavs, he is also known as Sud. He is usually mentioned together with Rozhanitsy deities. One's first haircut (postriziny) was dedicated to him, in a celebration in which he and the rozhanitsy were given a meal and the cut hair. His cult lost its importance through time, and in the ninth or tenth century he was replaced by Perun, Svarog and/or Svetevid, which explains his absence in the pantheon of Vladimir the Great.
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term rose window was not used before the 17th century and comes from the English flower name rose.
Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, Northern England, Scotland, France, Portugal, and Spain – and in Mediterranean Europe – Italy, Azerbaijan and Greece, as well as in Scandinavia and in Switzerland.
Hex signs are a form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, related to fraktur, found in the Fancy Dutch tradition in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Barn paintings, usually in the form of "stars in circles", began to appear on the landscape in the early 19th century and became widespread decades later when commercial ready-mixed paint became readily available. By the 1950s commercialized hex signs, aimed at the tourist market, became popular and these often include stars, compass roses, stylized birds known as distelfinks, hearts, tulips, or a tree of life. Two schools of thought exist on the meaning of hex signs. One school ascribes a talismanic nature to the signs; the other sees them as purely decorative. Both schools recognize that there are sometimes superstitions associated with certain hex sign themes and neither ascribes strong magical power to them. The Amish do not use hex signs.
In art and iconography, a motif is an element of an image. The term can be used both of figurative and narrative art, and ornament and geometrical art. A motif may be repeated in a pattern or design, often many times, or may just occur once in a work.
A rosette is a round, stylized flower design.
The coat of arms of Cantabria has a rectangular shield, round in base and the field is party en fess. In field azure, a tower or crenellated and masoned, port and windows azure, to its right a ship in natural colours that with its bow has broken a chain sable going from the tower to the dexter flank of the shield. At the base, sea waves argent and azure, all surmounted in chief by two male heads, severed and haloed. In field gules, a disc-shaped stele with geometric ornaments of the kind of the Cantabrian steles of Barros or Lombera. The crest is a closed royal crown, a circle of jeweled gold, made up of eight rosettes in the shape of acanthus leaves, only five visible, interpolated with pearls, and with half-arches topped with pearls raising from each leaf and converging in an orb azure, with submeridian and equator or, topped with cross or. The crown, covered in gules.
The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times, and was transformed by the process of religious syncretism into the Christian Easter egg. Over time, many new techniques were added. Some versions of these decorated eggs have retained their pagan symbolism, while others have added Christian symbols and motifs.
The Nationality Rooms are a group of 31 classrooms in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning depicting and donated by the national and ethnic groups that helped build the city of Pittsburgh. The rooms are designated as a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation historical landmark and are located on the 1st and 3rd floors of the Cathedral of Learning, itself a national historic landmark, on the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Although of museum caliber, 29 of the 31 rooms are used as daily classrooms by University of Pittsburgh faculty and students, while the other two are display rooms viewed through glass doors, utilized primarily for special events, and can only be explored via special guided tour. The Nationality Rooms also serve in a vigorous program of intercultural involvement and exchange in which the original organizing committees for the rooms remain as participants and which includes a program of annual student scholarship to facilitate study abroad. In addition, the Nationality Rooms inspire lectures, seminars, concerts exhibitions, and social events which focus on the various heritages and traditions of the nations represented. The national, traditional, and religious holidays of the nations represented are celebrated on campus and the rooms are appropriately decorated to reflect these occasions. The Nationality Rooms are available daily for public tours as long as the particular room is not being used for a class or other university function.
Islamic geometric patterns are one of the major forms of Islamic ornament, which tends to avoid using figurative images, as it is forbidden to create a representation of an important Islamic figure according to many holy scriptures.
In Slavic mythology, Perun is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, firmament, horses and carts, and weapons. The supreme god in the Kievan Rus' during the 9th-10th centuries, Perun was first associated with weapons made of stone and later with those of metal.
An overlapping circles grid is a geometric pattern of repeating, overlapping circles of an equal radius in two-dimensional space. Commonly, designs are based on circles centered on triangles or on the square lattice pattern of points.
The architecture of Switzerland was influenced by its location astride major trade routes, along with diverse architectural traditions of the four national languages. Romans and later Italians brought their monumental and vernacular architecture north over the Alps, meeting the Germanic and German styles coming south and French influences coming east. Additionally, Swiss mercenary service brought architectural elements from other lands back to Switzerland. All the major styles including ancient Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Modern architecture and Post Modern are well represented throughout the country. The founding of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne in La Sarraz and the work of Swiss-born modern architects such as Le Corbusier helped spread Modern architecture throughout the world.
The trefoil, quatrefoil, hexafoil and octofoil, essential elements of Gothic architecture, all figure in medieval silver.
A geometrical figure used in tracery; it is composed of six lobes or parts of circles joining each other.
A geometrical figure with six lobes, used as the form of a silver platter or a wooden decorative panel.
hexafoil in architecture.