Polychrome

<p>Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain <a href="/facts/Styles_of_architecture/l3lsePBu">styles of architecture</a>, <a href="/facts/Pottery/XLcUT1mX">pottery</a>, or sculpture in multiple colors.
</p><p>When looking at artworks and architecture from <a href="/facts/Ancient_history/P0fFQ8z5">antiquity</a> and the <a href="/facts/European_Middle_Ages/UwUVuaUH">European Middle Ages</a>, people tend to believe that they were monochrome. In reality, the pre-Renaissance past was full of colour, and all the Greco-Roman sculptures and <a href="/facts/Gothic_architecture/uhvWpQ2r">Gothic</a> cathedrals, that are now white, beige, or grey, were initially painted in bright colours. As <a href="/facts/Andr%C3%A9_Malraux/qlRwG9gj">André Malraux</a> stated: "Athens was never white but her statues, bereft of color, have conditioned the artistic sensibilities of Europe [...] the whole past has reached us colorless." Polychrome was and is a practice not limited only to the <a href="/facts/Western_world/UQl4e7du">Western world</a>. Non-Western artworks, like <a href="/facts/Chinese_architecture/yp3TD41T">Chinese</a> temples, <a href="/facts/Oceanian_art/gpTfMFXn">Oceanian</a> <a href="/facts/Uli_figure/wmu5PQsM">Uli figures</a>, or <a href="/facts/Maya_ceramics/VVmkgFTH">Maya ceramic vases</a>, were also decorated with colours.
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Polychrome