As the names of the inventors of simple, familiar and fundamental things, so the specific name of the inventor of building bricks has not remained in history.
Even in ancient times, man discovered the unique features of clay, which allowed him to create a universal building material. One of the most ancient examples of baked clay was found by archaeologists in the current territory of Slovakia. The age of these samples is more than 25,000 years, and belongs to the Paleolithic era.
At present, a wide range of fired clay products have been called ceramics. The most important and basic of these products is ceramic bricks.
Brick has been used as a building material since ancient times. Samples of the first brick buildings can be found in Egypt and on the territory of Mesopotamia, whose age dates back to the III-II millennium BC, as well as in Mesopotamia and in Ancient Rome. At first, the construction was made from raw unfired bricks, and later, instead of raw bricks, they began to use more durable and practical fired ceramic bricks. Based on the records of Herodotus, the buildings of Babylon, as early as the 6th century BC, were beautifully and richly decorated with fired ceramic bricks. Babylonian multi-tiered temples were finished with glazed blue bricks. Thanks to ceramic bricks, it became possible to build complex architectural forms, such as vaults, arches, etc. Over time, its size, shape, colors became more complicated, the technique and expressiveness of brickwork also improved. An excellent example of the craftsmanship of the builders of the 12th century are the unique and sophisticated architectural forms of the Gothic style, which have survived to this day and make a strong impression.
In Byzantium and Ancient Greece, the brick was called “plinth”. Its standard size was 30x60x3-9 cm. Back in the 10th century, bricks were brought to Rus’ from Byzantium. The Church of the Tithes in the city of Kyiv is considered the first of the ancient Russian brick buildings. Brick for the construction of churches and temples was produced in small factories at monasteries. In 1475, the first Russian brick factory appeared. This date can be officially considered the birthday of bricks in Ukraine and Russia.
The dimensions of the plinth produced were specially varied depending on its purpose. Starting from the 15th century, the so-called “Aristotelian brick” began to be produced in Russia. With its overall dimensions, it already resembled a modern one. The final standard size of a modern brick was established at the end of the 20s of the twentieth century and is still 250x120x65 mm (standard, single).
From the middle of the 19th century, the mass development of the brick industry began. Over the long years of development of brick production, the technology of its manufacture has undergone many innovative changes: from conventional firing in a kiln to a high-tech continuous production cycle on automatic lines with constant product quality control. Its quality, physico-technological and operational characteristics are constantly improving. Currently, the range of bricks produced includes more than 15 thousand different combinations of textures, shapes and color shades. Thanks to this, designers and architects can bring to life ever more refined and unique forms, thereby transforming the architectural appearance of cities.
Brick is a practical and popular building material. Depending on its purpose, the brick is produced both hollow and solid, it can be with a smooth surface, or maybe with a stone-like texture. Hyper-pressed brick produced by TM “Litos” is an artificial stone with excellent characteristics, which is in great demand among consumers. It is a reliable and durable structural, as well as a beautiful facing material.
Quoting the “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” by V.I. Dahl is called a brick “a made stone, a bar, knocked down from clay and fired, for construction.” However, currently produced bricks have already gone far from this classical definition.