This Marseille roof tile by Boyer with the image of a swan was found in the courtyard of a house on Shevchenko Street in Novorossiysk in 1980. It was removed from the roof while the roof was being repaired.
In the region of Novorossiysk, tiles as a roofing material have been known for about two and a half thousand years. The roofs of the richest houses of ancient Greek Bata, a city founded on the site of Novorossiysk in the 6th century BC, were tiled. The roofs of the Turkish fortress Sujuk-Kale were also covered with tiles. It was a grooved tile, or a tile of the Roman type, which was usually called “Tatar”.
After the commissioning of the Tikhoretskaya–Novorossiysk railway line, the Novorossiysk port began to develop quickly. Tiles were among the shipments coming from France. The roof tile produced in Marseille was a success not only in Novorossiysk. People called it a “Marseille roof tile”.
The brothers José Thibault and Francois Xavier Gilardoni began to produce such tiles. They made structural changes in the tiling business, providing the tiles with blocking grooves and a longitudinal recess in the middle, which changed the production technology and simplified the laying of the tiles. The brothers patented their invention, which began to be used nationwide. Small producers were given the opportunity to acquire a license for the production of roof tiles using the technology of the Gilardoni brothers. Tiling production in France began to develop rapidly. The factories of Marseille were especially famous. The use of the single technique for manufacturing “Marseille roof tiles” made the tile itself featureless, and some manufacturers began to make adjustments to the appearance of their products, using a decorative ornament or a distinctive sign in the form of an animal or insect and indicating the name of the plant.
The production of tiles with the inscription TUILERIES ROMAIN BOYER on the inside of the tiles was founded by the industrialist Etienne Boyer in the town of Six-Fours on the Mediterranean coast. The products of this society were sold not only in Western Europe, but also in Eastern countries, including Russia. This is how the tiles with the image of a swan and the inscription TUILERIES ROMAIN BOYER came to Novorossiysk.
In the region of Novorossiysk, tiles as a roofing material have been known for about two and a half thousand years. The roofs of the richest houses of ancient Greek Bata, a city founded on the site of Novorossiysk in the 6th century BC, were tiled. The roofs of the Turkish fortress Sujuk-Kale were also covered with tiles. It was a grooved tile, or a tile of the Roman type, which was usually called “Tatar”.
After the commissioning of the Tikhoretskaya–Novorossiysk railway line, the Novorossiysk port began to develop quickly. Tiles were among the shipments coming from France. The roof tile produced in Marseille was a success not only in Novorossiysk. People called it a “Marseille roof tile”.
The brothers José Thibault and Francois Xavier Gilardoni began to produce such tiles. They made structural changes in the tiling business, providing the tiles with blocking grooves and a longitudinal recess in the middle, which changed the production technology and simplified the laying of the tiles. The brothers patented their invention, which began to be used nationwide. Small producers were given the opportunity to acquire a license for the production of roof tiles using the technology of the Gilardoni brothers. Tiling production in France began to develop rapidly. The factories of Marseille were especially famous. The use of the single technique for manufacturing “Marseille roof tiles” made the tile itself featureless, and some manufacturers began to make adjustments to the appearance of their products, using a decorative ornament or a distinctive sign in the form of an animal or insect and indicating the name of the plant.
The production of tiles with the inscription TUILERIES ROMAIN BOYER on the inside of the tiles was founded by the industrialist Etienne Boyer in the town of Six-Fours on the Mediterranean coast. The products of this society were sold not only in Western Europe, but also in Eastern countries, including Russia. This is how the tiles with the image of a swan and the inscription TUILERIES ROMAIN BOYER came to Novorossiysk.
