Review of historical buildings' foundations

The paper presents in brief some aspects of the history of foundation engineering, with particular regard to its development, applied techniques and materials. This study concentrates on medieval and modern foundations and is limited to the Europe area, with special emphasis on Poland. Several types of historical foundation in various soil conditions are considered. Basic methods of preservation of such foundations, their drawbacks and advantages are discussed. Several examples of historical foundations as well as past and contemporary preservation techniques are presented in the paper.