Parthenon

The Parthenon is an ancient Greek temple located on the Athenian Acropolis. This sacred structure was erected in honor of the patroness of Athens, the goddess Athena the Virgin. The date of construction is considered to be the period between 447-431 BC. To date, work is actively underway to restore it.

During the Persian raids, more than one temple was destroyed on the site of the Acropolis, and the one that stood on the site of the Parthenon, destroyed back in 480 BC, is no exception.

When the Romans entered Athens, they actively began to plunder the Parthenon, and the sculptures were exported from the country. The Parthenon was transformed into the church of St. Sophia when the country was ruled by Emperor Justinian. It was he who ordered all the churches to be converted into Christian ones. The Fourth Crusade replaced the Parthenon with a Catholic church.

When Athens was under the rule of the Turkish government, the cathedral suffered greatly. At that time, a powder magazine was equipped here, and during the attack, a shell that hit the cathedral turned it into ruins.

The base of the Parthenon is made of stone and measures 31x70 m, its columns rise almost 10 m in height. The temple is a Doric peripter with a rectangular sanctuary. During the construction of the temple, a deviation from some generally accepted rules was carried out, which gave it a solemn appearance and lightness. Such a deviation is the neglect of the conditions for the construction of the number of columns. The architects tilted them slightly inside the building, which achieved an optical effect, while the side columns were built slightly larger than the rest.

The components of the Parthenon are the proanons (vestibule), the opisthod (treasury), and the cella. In the middle of the sanctuary there is a large sculpture in honor of the goddess Athena, 12 meters high. Part of the material with which it is made is gold and ivory.

The main entrance of the building faces the east side, where the sculpture of Athena was lavishly bathed in sunlight. According to historical literature, 1,500 kg of gold was needed to erect the statue. When the sculpture was taken to Byzantium, it collapsed in a fire.

The main decoration of the Parthenon was its sculptural design, where fragments of significant myths were applied, the main character of which was the goddess Athena. There are close to 500 different shapes here, and no two are the same. The 160-meter frieze is a true masterpiece of classical art.

Even the Parthen spillway has an unusual appearance, decorated with various ornaments in the form of a lion's head. All the sculptures of the temple had beautiful coloring and gilding elements. The real decoration of the walls of the Parthenon inside were paintings, the authors of which were famous artists of that time.

Currently, the Greek restorers have set themselves the goal of restoring the Parthenon to the form in which it was back in antiquity. For these purposes, even marble is taken from the quarries that were taken then.