Ακρόπολη

Tags

art., ATHENA, Greece, humanity, parthenon

In the period 2007-2011 I often went to Greece for work and lived near the Acropolis. I always made a point of going to the Acropolis to visit the sight. I was also in Athens when the new Acropolis Museum opened, truly a marvel of architecture with its glass floors where you can admire the subterranean area, the South side of the Acropolis hill was a sacred precinct with many shops and houses serving the pilgrims coming to the Acropolis. There were also two theatres, the Herodion which is still in use today, the other is the Sanctuary and Theatre of Dionysius built in 580 BC saw the performance of the first plays in the Western World, it had a capacity of 17,000 people.

This photo taken by a worker standing on a scaffold on the East side of the Temple. This area is not open to visitors.

Inside view of the Parthenon, looking West, (main door), to the left is the South side and the right is the North side. Between 2003 and 2020 major restoration have been undertaken to restore the second Parthenon Temple built by Pericles, it replace the one destroyed by the Persians some 2500 years ago. The Temple was dedicated to Athena Parthenos,(virgin) goddess protecting Athens. Her statue inside the Cella was a work by Pheidias, made of ivory and solid gold.

I remember the Parthenon prior to the undertaking of this restoration, it was much more ruined then. Modern techniques allowed for titanium rods to replace the old steel hooks locking the marble blocs into place. As can be seen on this photo the new white Pentelic marble in the columns replace the missing parts, it will eventually take the same golden hue of the original blocs. Recently the final phase of the restoration was undertaken with the decision to rebuild the North wall of the cella (chamber). The cella walls represent an amazing restoration challenge. A total of 360 ancient stones, many of them with new marble attachments, will be reinstalled, along with 90 completely new marble members. On the photo we can see on the North side a group of workers placing a white marble bloc . The cella or chamber contained the statue of Athena Parthenos which measured 11.5 meters tall.

Why is it that the Parthenon needs to be rebuilt in the first place? It all began in 1687, with the bombardment by the Venetian fleet under the command of Francesco Morosini, when large parts of the Parthenon’s cella walls collapsed. They remained in that state until 1822, when the Greeks, in the struggle for their independence, besieged Turkish troops on the Acropolis. The Turkish soldiers, running out of bullets, discovered that there was lead between the marble blocks, and so they knocked down the rest of the cella walls. The lead had been used by the ancient architects to protect iron clamps from corrosion.

To me the Parthenon is the symbol of Western civilization, from ancient Greece we received the notions of democracy, theatre, philosophy, citizenship. So the accidents of history and war should not deprive us of this beautiful monument.

On the acropolis in the restoration program, the entrance gate or Propylaia saw extensive rebuilding, the Erechtheion was also restored as was the Temple of Athena Nike (victorius), the effect is visually magical.

Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis

Painting

Tags

Acropolis, ATHENA, parthenon, pentelic marble, Pericles

This painting by Frederick E. Church of the Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis in Athens is shown as it was in 1871 when the painter captured this image. It does not look like that today nor do you have debris all over the acropolis. This large painting is part of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

Church visited Greece in 1869 and spent several weeks in Athens, where he made numerous studies of the ruins of the Parthenon that later served as the basis for the work. In 1871 a commission from the financier and philanthropist Morris K. Jesup finally allowed Church to begin work on his “big Parthenon”.

The Parthenon for the last 25 years has gone through a complex renovation and consolidation to stabilize the building and avoid any further degradation. It is splendid to see, there is no other word really.

The Parthenon built by Pericles in 447 BC with the tax money Athenians were convinced to give, he was a good talker, was and is  an important structure to the Western World. It is worth to see it at different times of the day from dawn to dusk because the light of the day and the Sun change dramatically its appearance. In the painting above depicting late afternoon on the Western facade.

The Parthenon is a masterpiece of symmetry and proportion. This temple to the Goddess Athena was built with pure white marble quarried at Pentelikon, about 20km from Athens. It was erected without mortar or cement, the stones being carved to great accuracy and locked together by iron clamps. The building and sculptures were completed in just 15 years.

 

You can see today how the columns have been restored, during the period 1990 to 2015 hundreds of pieces of the shattered columns and other fragments were found on the ground, archeologists used them to reconstruct the temple and also used new Pentelic Marble when pieces were missing. Titanium rods are use to fuse together various elements. I visited Athens many times between 2007-2011 on Official duty and always stayed at an hotel with a roof top restaurant and a perfect view of the temple. The E.U. paid in large part for all the work done on its World heritage site.

This model of the West pediment shows the gods Poseidon and Athena and the Sacred Olive Tree behind them. This refers to the story of Athens and the rivalry between these 2 gods to win the favour of the Athenians and become protector of the City. The Sacred Olive tree is still on the Acropolis on the spot where in Antiquity there was an Olive tree next to the Erechtheion Temple. The olive tree Athena planted grew in an enclosure west of the Erectheum. The Olive tree you see today was planted in modern times by Princess Sophia of Prussia, Queen Consort of Greece, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in honour of the Athenians.