Abstract
Artificial marble, also called scagliola, or sometimes and inaccurately stucco marble, is a substitute for natural marble made of minerals on the basis of plaster substance, used in architecture mainly between the 17th and 19th centuries. The fine polished interior stucco resembles natural marble and if exquisitely made, it is decorative and durable.
The traditional recipe and technology have been kept and handed over for centuries from masters to their apprentices using the same materials and tools. It still widely depends on patient and demanding craft of specialists - masters of decorative arts among which the technique belongs.
At present this type of decoration is mostly being restored or reconstructed and the technique presented here is repeated: at first plaster "dough" is made using specific substances and components and it is gradually coloured with pigmented batches, moulded not only on surface planes but even into three-dimensional shapes and then polished several times. This physically demanding profession is described thoroughly including various problems and finesse from the very beginning to the final stage.
Good results depend on many years of practice and experience. Tasks are also time consuming.
A number of projects can be considered pieces of art, sometimes creating visual compositions. Yet the authors are usually anonymous and there is almost no specialist literature, especially in Czech, on this subject.