Coloured marbles and frescoes served a like purpose.
Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the English residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, British consul in 1580.
In and around Boli are numerous marbles with Greek inscriptions, chiefly sepulchral, and architectural fragments.
The orbs resembled marbles with colorful lights that danced.
Ambones were made of wood or else of costly marbles, and were decorated with mosaics, reliefs, gilding, &c.; sometimes also covered with canopies supported on columns.