INTRODUCTION

Besides wood, masonry is the most important construction material in the history of mankind. Masonry has been used, in a wide variety of forms, as a basic construction material for public and residential buildings in the past several thousand years: from the Tower of Babylon, which should have reached the sky if it had been completed, to the Great Wall of China, which is the only man-made structure visible from the Moon. A great number of well-preserved old masonry buildings still exist, proving that masonry can successfully resist loads and environmental impacts, therefore providing shelter for people and their goods for a long period of time, if adequately conceived and constructed. In recognition of their importance and value, many of those buildings have been ranked among the assets of highest category of mankind's historical and cultural heritage…