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Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall

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Vass. Sophias & Kokkali, Athens Omirou 8

The inspiration behind the creation of a major cultural centre was the great singer Alexandra Trianti, the founder of the Friends of Music Association. The Association commissioned designs for the Concert Hall from top Greek and foreign architects, and specialists in acoustics. The first help to finance construction of the building came from Dimitris Mitropoulos, who offered the proceeds of concerts by the New York Philharmonic, which he conducted in Athens.The grounds around and behind the Concert Hall were landscaped to provide a valuable green space in the heart of the city, a venue for a variety of educational, cultural and environmental activities. In 2010 the garden was the setting for a wonderful concert by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti, for an audience of local people and visitors to Athens. 
 The Athens Concert Hall offers a comprehensive range of facilities for all sorts of cultural activities, designed to the very highest specifications and one of the most impressive venues of its kind anywhere in the world. It offers a forum for all sorts of cultural activities โ€“ both artistic and educational.

Parthenon

The Parthenon, dedicated by the Athenians to Athena Parthenos, the patron of their city, is the most magnificent creation of Athenian democracy at the height of its power. It is also the finest monument on the Acropolis in terms of both conception and execution. Built between 447 and 438 BC, as part of the greater Periklean building project, this so-called Periklean Parthenon (Parthenon III) replaced an earlier marble temple (Parthenon II), begun after the victory at the battle of Marathon at approximately 490 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. This temple had replaced the very first Parthenon (Parthenon I) of c. 570 BC. The Periklean Parthenon was designed by architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, while the sculptor Pheidias supervised the entire building program and conceived the temple’s sculptural decoration and chryselephantine statue of Athena.

The Parthenon is a double peripteral Doric temple with several unique and innovative architectural features. The temple proper is divided into pronaos, cella and opisthodomos, with a separate room at the west end, and is surrounded by a pteron with eight columns on each of the short sides and seventeen columns on the long ones. The columns had the same width as those of Parthenon II, so that use was made of the material prepared for it, even though the new temple was much broader than its predecessor. The interior demonstrates an innovative approach to both new and old elements: inside the cella a double pi-shaped colonnade established a background for the gold and ivory statue of Athena Parthenos, which showed the goddess in full armour carrying Nike (Victory) to the Athenians in her right hand. The west room, where the city’s treasures were kept, had four Ionic columns. The two-sloped wooden roof had marble tiles, marble palmette-shaped false antefixes along the edge of its long sides and false spouts in the shape of lion heads at the corners. Marble statues adorned the corners of the pediments and large, ornate palmettes their apex. The pediments were decorated with sculptural compositions inspired from the life of the goddess Athena. The east pediment depicted the birth of the goddess, who sprang from the head of her father, Zeus, before an assembly of the Olympian gods, while the west pediment showed Athena and Poseidon disputing for the possession of the city of Athens before the gods, heroes and mythical kings of Attica. Ninety-two metopes alternating with triglyphs were placed above the epistyle of the outer colonnade and under the architrave. All of them were adorned with reliefs, the earliest sculptures of the Parthenon. Their themes were derived from legendary battles: the Gigantomachy was depicted on the eastern side, the Trojan War on the northern side, the Amazonomachy on the western side and the Centauromachy on the southern side. The frieze, an element of the Ionic order, brilliantly added to this Doric temple along the top of the cella, pronaos and opisthodomos, depicted the splendid procession of the Panathinaia, the greatest festival of Athens in honour of Athena.

The Parthenon remained unchanged until the fifth century AD, when it was converted into a church dedicated first to Saint Sophia and later to the Panagia (Virgin Mary). Under Turkish rule it became a mosque. In 1687, during the siege of the Acropolis by Morozini, the Parthenon was bombarded and largely destroyed. Further serious damage was caused in the early nineteenth century by Lord Elgin, who looted much of the temple’s sculptural decoration and sold it to the British Museum. Conservation and restoration of the Parthenon took place in 1896-1900 and again in 1922-1933. A vast conservation and restoration program of the monuments of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, is currently under way since 1975 by the Service of Restoration of the Monuments of the Acropolis in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, under the supervision of the Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis.

Erechtheion

The elegant building known as the Erechtheion, on the north side of the sacred rock of the Acropolis, was erected in 421-406 BC as a replacement of an earlier temple dedicated to Athena Polias, the so-called ”Old temple”. The name ”Erechtheion”, mentioned only by Pausanias (1, 26, 5), derives from Erechtheus, the mythical king of Athens, who was worshipped there. Other texts refer to the building simply as ”temple” or ”old temple”. The building owes its unusual shape to the irregularity of the terrain – there is a three-metre difference in height between the eastern and western parts – and the multiple cults it was designed to accommodate. The eastern part of the building was dedicated to Athena Polias, while the western part served the cult of Poseidon-Erechtheus and held the altars of Hephaistus and Voutos, brother of Erechtheus. This is where, according to the myth, Athena’s sacred snake lived. The sanctuary also contained the grave of Kekrops and the traces of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of the city of Athens.

The temple burned in the first century BC and was subsequently repaired with minor alterations. In the Early Christian period it was converted into a church dedicated to the Theometor (Mother of God). It became palace under Frankish rule and the residence of the Turkish commander’s harem in the Ottoman period. In the early nineteenth century, Lord Elgin removed one of the Karyatides and a column and during the Greek War of Independence the building was bombarded and severely damaged. Restoration was undertaken immediately after the end of the war and again in 1979-1987, when the Erechtheion became the first monument of the Acropolis to be restored as part of the recent conservation and restoration project. Its restoration received the Europa Nostra award.

Propylaea

The Propylaia of the Athenian Acropolis were built on the west side of the hill, where the gate of the Mycenaean fortification once stood. The first propylon, or gate, was constructed in the age of Peisistratos (mid-sixth century BC), after the Acropolis had become a sanctuary dedicated to Athena. A new propylon, built in 510-480 BC, was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC and repaired after the end of the Persian Wars, during the fortification of the Acropolis by Themistokles and Kimon. The monumental Propylaia admired by modern visitors were part of the great Periklean building program. They were erected in 437-432 BC, after the completion of the Parthenon, by architect Mnesikles. The original building plan was particularly daring both in architectural and artistic terms, but was never completed.

In Christian times both the south wing and the central section of the Propylaia were converted into churches, the former during the Early Christian period (fourth-seventh centuries AD) and the latter in the tenth century AD when in was dedicated to the Taxiarches. Under Frankish rule (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries AD) the Propylaia became the residence of the dukes of de la Roche; during the same period a tower, known as Koulas, now demolished, was built against the south wing. In the Ottoman period (1458-1830) the Propylaia were used as garrison headquarters and munitions store, resulting in a great explosion that destroyed the building in 1640. After the Greek War of Independence the Medieval and Turkish additions to the Propylaia were demolished and the site excavated. Restoration work was undertaken by engineer Nikolaos Balanos in 1909-1917 and is again in progress since 1982, as part of the greater conservation and restoration project carried out on the Acropolis since 1975 by the Restoration Service of the Monuments of the Acropolis in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, under the supervision of the Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis.

Temple of Athena Nike

The temple of Athena Nike stands at the southeast edge of the sacred rock atop a bastion, which in Mycenaean times protected the entrance to the Acropolis. The Classical temple, designed by architect Kallikrates and built in 426-421 BC, succeeded earlier temples also dedicated to Athena Nike. The first one of these, a mid-sixth century BC wooden temple was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. The eschara, the altar believed to have supported the cult statue of the goddess, dates to this period. Under Kimon, c. 468 BC, a small temple of tufa was erected around the base of the statue and a new altar was built outside the temple. The foundations of these early temples and altars are preserved inside the bastion under the floor of the Classical structure. Pausanias (1, 22, 4) refers to this temple as that of the Apteros Nike, or Wingless Victory, and mentions that the cult statue of the goddess had no wings so that she would never leave Athens. Apart from the cult of Athena Nike other, earlier cults were also practiced on this site. On the west side of the bastion was a Mycenaean double-apsed shrine and on the east side, the pre-Classical shrines of the Graces and of Hekate Epipyrgidia. The construction of the Classical temple of Athena Nike was part of the Periklean building project. Several inscriptions, mostly decrees of the city of Athens, provide information on this particular part of the project.

The temple was converted into a church in the fifth century AD. In the Ottoman period it was used as a munitions store. During the siege of Morosini, in 1686, the Turks demolished the temple and used its building material to erect a fortification wall in front of the Propylaia and a tall tower, the so-called Koulas. The temple was restored soon after the Greek War of Independence, in 1835, and again in 1935-1940. A study for further restoration of the temple was published in 1994. Conservation and restoration of the monument is currently in progress since 1997 by the Service of Restoration of the Monuments of the Acropolis in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, under the supervision of the Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis. The frieze was moved to the Acropolis Museum in 1998.

Brauronion
The Brauronion, located just south of the Propylaia inside the sacred enclosure of the Acropolis, was a shrine dedicated to Brauronian Artemis, protector of women about to give birth and who had just given birth. It probably functioned as an adjunct to the great sanctuary of the goddess at Brauron, Attica. It was founded in the mid-sixth century BC, possibly by Peisistratos, who was originally from the Brauron region.

The main part of the shrine consisted of a Doric pi-shaped stoa, 38 metres long and seven metres wide. The stoa faced north and had ten columns along the fa?ade, while its back wall ran parallel to the southern fortification wall. At either end of the stoa was a closed rectangular wing, 10×7 metres, in which the shrine’s treasures were kept. North of the shrine was an enclosure wall with a gate at the northeast corner. The staircase leading to the shrine and the north section of the enclosure wall visible today were built in the fifth century BC, probably during the construction of the Propylaia. The triangular courtyard contained the offerings of the faithful, while the shrine itself probably contained a wooden cult statue of Artemis, similar to the one at the Brauron sanctuary. According to Pausanias, a second statue of the goddess, by sculptor Praxiteles, was placed there in the mid-fourth century BC. The head of this statue is today on display at the Acropolis Museum. A new east wing, consisting of a stoa, seventeen metres long and seven metres wide, was added to the existing one in the fourth century BC.

Today, only the cuts in the bedrock for wall foundations are visible; these allow us to reconstruct the shape and access to the shrine.

Temple of Rome and Augustus

The temple of Rome and Augustus was erected in the late first century BC east of the Parthenon or of the Erechtheion. Several architectural elements of the building were found east of the Parthenon and many more were brought here after their discovery elsewhere. Nearby are the irregular tufa foundations (approximately 10.50×13 metres) of a building generally considered to be the Roman temple. Another theory, however, based on the construction technique of these foundations and on depictions of the Acropolis on Roman coins, places the temple east of the Erechtheion.

The inscription on the temple’s epistyle mentions that the building was dedicated by the city of Athens to the goddess Rome and to Octavian Augustus. Pausanias does not mention the building during his visit to the Acropolis, possibly because it did not present any interest at his time. The small, circular temple had a single row of nine Ionic columns and no interior wall, the entablature and conical roof being entirely of white marble. The fact that the columns imitate those of the Erechtheion may indicate that the temple was built by the same architect who repaired the Erechtheion after it was damaged by fire.

Pedestal of Agrippa

The pedestal of Agrippa stands west of the Propylaia, directly opposite the north wing and the so-called Pinakothiki, and is the same height as the temple of Athena Nike to the south. Originally it was built in honour of Eumenes II of Pergamon in 178 BC to commemorate his victory in the chariot race of the Panathenaic games. Atop the pedestal was a bronze quadriga (four-horse chariot) driven by Eumenes and his brother, Attalos. This chariot was replaced by another in approximately 27 BC, dedicated by the city of Athens to Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus, in gratitude for the odeion that he erected in the Agora. The following inscription is still visible on the west side of the pedestal: ?The city (dedicates this) to Marcus Agrippa, son of Leukios, three times consul and benefactor?. Below this inscription are the traces of an earlier one, which probably referred to Eumenes and was erased.

The rectangular, slightly tapering pedestal is the only part of the monument preserved to this day. Made of grey-blue Hymetus marble, it uses pseudo-isodomic masonry, which was particularly popular in the Hellenistic period, and stands on a stepped base of stone and tufa, 3.80 metres long, 3.31 metres wide and 4.50 metres tall. The pedestal is 8.91 metres tall. Its shape resembles that of other Hellenistic pedestals dedicated at large sanctuaries, such as Delphi.

Beule Gate
The Beul? gate, by which the Acropolis is accessed today, stands to the west of the Propylaia. It was built in the mid-third century AD as part of a program to protect the sacred precinct, possibly after the destructive invasion of the Herulians in 267 AD. Together with another gate located under the tower of Athena Nike, it was built into a strong fortification wall erected west of the Propylaia. The gate was named after the French archaeologist who investigated this area in 1852.

The gate is framed to the north and south by two rectangular towers. Both the gate and the towers are made of reused building material from earlier structures, such as the choregic monument of Nikias (late fourth century BC), which stood on the south slope of the Acropolis (only the monument’s foundations are visible today between the theatre of Dionysus and the stoa of Eumenes). The votive inscription mentioning the choregic victory of Nikias Nikodemos is embedded in the wall above the gate’s epistyle.

The monument is currently under conservation by the Department of Restoration of Ancient Monuments of the Ministry of Culture.

Acropolis fortification wall
Because of its geomorphology, the Acropolis has been a refuge since prehistoric times. The first, so-called ‘Cyclopean’ wall, was built along the top of the hill in the Mycenaean period, at approximately 1200 BC. Remains of this wall are still visible to the southeast of the Propylaia, while its course can be traced fairly accurately. A curved enclosure wall, the co-called ‘Pelargic’ wall mentioned by Thucydides, was also built to the northwest during this period. This wall had several doors, hence its name ‘enneapylon’ (nine-doored). The main entrance to the fortress was on the west side, next to a bastion, which later supported the temple of Athena Nike. This Mycenaean wall remained in use with minor repairs and changes until 480 BC, when it was severely damaged by the Persians.

After the Herulian invasion in the third century AD, another wall was built west of the Propylaia. Of its two gates, only the west one, the so-called Beul? gate, stands to this day. The Acropolis became a fortress once again and was used as such until the nineteenth century. Another south wall with two bastions, the so-called Koulas, demolished in the nineteenth century, and a second one located at the present Belvedere, were built in the thirteenth century. The southeast corner of the fortification wall was repaired one last time after the Second World War.

Chalkotheke

East of the Brauronion and along the south wall of the Acropolis was the Chalkotheke, an elongated building whose name and function are known from ancient inscriptions. The building housed mainly the metal votive offerings – weapons, statuettes and hydriae, dedicated on the Acropolis and considered to belong to the goddess Athena. According to an edict of the fourth century BC, all of the objects contained in the Chalkotheke had to be listed on a stone stele to be erected in front of the building. The Chalkotheke was erected in the fifth century BC, but was enlarged and repaired in later years, as architectural elements found in this area show. Interestingly, Pausanias does not mention the building, possibly because it had no artistic or historical merit in his time.

Old temple of Athena

The Old temple was a Doric, peripteral structure with six columns on the short sides and twelve on the long sides. The interior arrangement was quite unusual. The east part of the temple consisted of a distyle pronaos with antae and a naos divided into three naves by two rows of columns. Inside the naos was the wooden cult statue (xoanon) of the goddess Athena. The east part of the temple consisted of three rooms, each dedicated to the worship of Poseidon-Erechtheus, Hephaistus and Boutes. The marble pediments of the Gigantomachy, displayed in the Acropolis Museum, and a sime with lion and ram’s heads probably belonged to this temple. The metopes, cornices and roof tiles were also of marble, while the rest of the temple was built of limestone.

The temple was unearthed in 1885 and W. D?rpfeld was the first to identify it. Only the foundations of its south side, towards the Erechtheion, are visible today, along with two stone column bases from the Geometric temple.

The Archaeological Site

The greatest and finest sanctuary of ancient Athens, dedicated primarily to its patron, the goddess Athena, dominates the centre of the modern city from the rocky crag known as the Acropolis. The most celebrated myths of ancient Athens, its greatest religious festivals, earliest cults and several decisive events in the city’s history are all connected to this sacred precinct. The monuments of the Acropolis stand in harmony with their natural setting. These unique masterpieces of ancient architecture combine different orders and styles of Classical art in a most innovative manner and have influenced art and culture for many centuries. The Acropolis of the fifth century BC is the most accurate reflection of the splendour, power and wealth of Athens at its greatest peak, the golden age of Perikles.

After the liberation of Greece, the monuments of the Acropolis came under the care of the newly founded Greek state. Limited investigation took place in 1835 and 1837, while in 1885-1890 the site was systematically excavated under P. Kavvadias. In the early twentieth century N. Balanos headed the first large-scale restoration project. A Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments on the Acropolis was created in 1975 with the aim to plan and undertake large-scale conservation and restoration on the Acropolis. The project, conducted by the Service of Restoration of the Monuments of the Acropolis in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, is still in progress.

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh3530.jsp?obj_id=2384

The Panathenaic Way

The Panathenaic Way was the route taken by the Panathenaic procession during the festival of Panathenaia. This was the most important event of ancient Athens and was dedicated to the goddess Athena, and consisted of dances, athletic, dramatic and musical contests. The route was cutting through the middle of the Acropolis, beginning from the Keramikos and ending at the Erechteion.

The procession was the highlight of the festival, as it took place on its last day. It was composed of men carrying animals for sacrifices to the goddess, of maidens carrying drinking vessels (call rhytons), musicians and girls holding the sacred shawl called peplo. The procession came to an end when the girls placed the peplo on the statue of Athena Polias, inside the Erechteion.

The statue of Athena Promachos

On the Acropolis, one can see the remains of some important statues which used to form a path. One of them, 15m from the Propylaea, is where used to stand the gigantic statue of Athena Promachos (champion). This 9m high statue was a symbol of the victory and the strength of the Athenians against the Persians. This symbolism is the reason why its sculptor, the famous Pheidias, represented the goddess holding a shield in her left hand and a spear in her right one. The statue was taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Theodosius in 426 AD. It was destroyed in 1204 by the inhabitants of the city who blamed the statue for a crusader invasion they suffered.

The southwest slope of Athens Acropolis

This area of the Acropolis is the area where all public buildings were built. It was the part of the hill where all the major artistic, spiritual and religious activities of the city took place, hence its importance to ancient Athens. Here are the most important monuments standing in this area:

The Theatre of Dionysos

The remaining ruins of the 5th-century theatre built in stone and marble by Lycourgos indicate the greatness of the site: the auditorium had 17 000 seats of which only 20 survived. The Greek Archaeological Society started excavations around the sanctuary of Dionysos and brought to light the theatre of Dionysos in 1838. The decorative relief at the rear of the stage is from the 2nd century BC and depicts Dionysos life and myths. Unfortunately, most of the figures are headless.

During the golden age of Pericles, when Athens was at its peak, one of the major events of the year was the annual Festival of the Great Dionysia, introduced in the 6th-century AD by the tyrant Pisistratus. It was a very interesting and cultural event. Politicians and rich people would sponsor dramas and comedies by theatrical writers like Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. Visitors would come from all around Attica to enjoy the plays and the different festivities. The Romans have also used the Theatre of Dionysos for their state events, some ceremonies, and even theatrical performances.

The Temple of Thrasyllos

This temple was erected in 320-319 BC by Thrasyllos. It was standing on the katatome, the great rock that had been artificially evened out vertically for the construction of the Theatre of Dionysos. The only remains of this temple are the two Ionic columns standing above the lovely, tiny Chapel of Panagia Hrysospiliotissa (our Lady of the Golden Cave), which was built into a small cave of a cliff hidden behind the Theatre of Dionysos.

The Stoa of Eumenes

Beneath the Asclepion stands a long colonnade that was built by Eumenes the second, the king of Pergamos (197-159 BC). This colonnade is known as the stoa of Eumenes, and it was built of stone and marble and was used as a shelter and a promenade way for the theatre’s public.

The Asklepieion

The Asklepieion was built after 420 BC to worship the physician Asklepios, son of Apollo. It is located on the left top of the wooden steps leading to the Theatre of Dionysos. It is composed by some foundations of the Temple of Asklepios, a Doric stoa used as the katagogion, an Ionic stoa dating from the end of the 5th century BC and an altar. The excavation of the Asklepieion was made by the Greek Archaeological Service.

Theatre of Herodes Atticus

This theatre was built by Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Roman. He created this architectural miracle in AD 160, in loving memory of his wife Regilla. This huge construction has a 38m radius, which allows it to offer space for more than 5000 spectators. The seats were made of marble. It was discovered in 1857-58 and restored in 1950-61. The summer Athens Festival which takes place every year nowadays uses the Theatre of Herodes Atticus from musical to dancing performances or theatrical plays. Famous artists and performers come from all over the world to perform there and create an amazing atmosphere.

https://www.greeka.com/

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