it's not my vault!* - the architecture thread, Disc. 500 Iconic Buildings: Central Station

Next: 4. The Great Pyramid of Khufu

Architect: Hemon

Completed: c. 2650 BCE

Location: Giza, near Cairo, Egypt

Style/Period: Ancient Egyptian

Our first architect...a cousin of the Pharaoh who built this to house his remains. The only remaining Seventh Wonder of the Ancient World. Built by hand, 482 feet high, sheathed in limestone. There are two finished and one unfinished burial chamber inside, with two shafts that probably had a religious significance.

[image=http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Travel/MiddleEast/GizaPyramids1.jpg]

[image=http://www.hisdudeness.com/Egypt/images/The%20Great%20Pyramid%20of%20Giza%202.JPG]

The Great Pyramid

The Interior

 

Next: 5. The Temple of Karnak

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 1640 BCE

Location: Luxor, Nile Valley, Egypt

Style/Period: Ancient Egyptian

Part of a large religious site near Luxor (then Thebes).

[image=http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.co.uk/images/oxed/children/egypt/egypt_temple2.jpg]

[image=http://sarabic.nomadlife.org/KarnakTemple.jpg]

[image=http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mcdavey/pics/karnak.jpg]

 

Next: The Palace at Knossos

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 1400 BCE

Location: Knossos, Crete, Greece

Style/Period: Minoan

[image=http://www.dilos.com/dilosimages/image/crete/knoss_04.jpg]

[image=http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/gaddis/HST210/Sept23/knossos-palace-air.jpg]

[image=http://blog.hire-car-rental-crete.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/knossos-palace.jpg]


Built over 300 years as the centre of the Bronze-Age Minoan civilization.

 

Knossos is an impressive site for its level of preservation (and the reconstruction efforts, which are occasionally done in a haphazard and anecdotal manner, more reliant on 19th century reinterpretation and wishful thinking than actual historical evidence of what the site really looked like)

Knossos, on the outskirts of the city of Heraklion, has the distinction of being the first royal palace in Europe, and being the site of the first throne, both literally and figuratively, on that continent (even though it's on an island, it's still part of the European continent)

While, towards the ends of its active life, Knossos was the most powerful and important of the Minoan palaces, I think that its true architectural legacy can be called into question. Because the palace was and is in such a state of ruin, the only thing we really know about it is the general layout of the basement walls in the time period before it (and all of Minoan civilization) collapsed. Even those stone outlines are debatable, and it is nearly impossible for any two archaeologists to agree on a hypothesis for what any one of those rooms may have been used for. Everything above the basement (like where people lived, worked, played, prayed, and ruled) is pure speculation and guesswork.

Secondly, Knossos is not the most impressive of the dozens (hundreds?) of Minoan Palaces under excavation today. That distinction goes to Phaestos, far to the south on the rugged, sparsely-populated side of the island. Neither is it the best preserved Palace, which would be Mallea, which even then is relatively poorly preserved next to more astounding palace-like settlements like Aigos Nicholaos.

Finally, the site of Knossos has been completely overrun by the tourist industry. Immense boardwalks for tourists hover over the entire site, limiting access and even one's view of the ruins. The site has become a money mill for the local government, at the expense of its mystique and grandeur. On the plus side, Knossos is one of the only places in the world where you can walk on a 2000-plus year old road, on the original paving stones that have been used since before the Romans took over.

 

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/bookwormdarlin/forumpics/this_thread_rocks.jpg]

 

Lion Gate

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 1250 BCE

Location: Mycenae, Peloponnese, Greece

Style/Period: Early Ancient Greece

[image=http://www.artchive.com/artchive/g/greek/greek_lion_gate.jpg]

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Lions-Gate-Mycenae.jpg]

 

Next: Choga Zanbil

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 1250 BCE

Location: Dur Untash, Khuzestan, Iran

Style/Period: Mesopotamian

The world's largest ziggurat. 80 feet in height, probably twice that in its heyday, covered in brilliant terra-cotta tiles and topped with a temple to the bull-god of Susa.

The temple complex was never finished and abandoned in 640 BCE.

Fantastic, even after all these years...

[image=http://www.albert-videt.eu/photographie/carnet-de-route/iran_10-2006/images/chogha-zanbil_01.jpg]

[image=http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/spr03/422/January-March/77.JPG]

Choga Zanbil

[image=http://www.national-geographic.cz/assets/lide-a-kultura/14-iran-ziggurat-714.jpg]

 

Next: Treasury of Atreus

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 1200 BCE

Location: Mycenae, Peloponnese, Greece

Style/Period: Early Ancient Greek

[image=http://home.att.net/~a.a.major/treasint.jpg]

Excavated and misnamed by Schliemann; this is actually a tholos, or beehive tomb. The angled stone is unsupported, and this was the biggest dome in the world for 1000 years. It is 48 ft in diameter, and 44 ft. high. Also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon.

[image=http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/864/20213145.JPG]

 

Next: Ishtar Gate

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 575 BCE

Location: Babylon, Iraq

Style/Period: Babylonian

[image=http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/ltrupe/ART%20History%20Web/final/chap2NearEast/Ishtar%20Gate%20view%202.jpg]

[image=http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/ishtar_recon.jpg]

The Ishtar Gate--Wiki

Part of the Walls of Babylon. The remains were uncovered by the German archaelogist, Robert Koldewey, in the early 20th century, and a full-scale replica was constructed in Berlin's Pergamon Museum.

This must be quite a sight...

 

yeah they constructed the museum around this and the pergamon altar (massively massive) which explains the architecture i guess.

it's stunning.

 

I like how this thread has become an overview of art history...
I don't mind...

The Ishtar gate is one case where I'm GLAD it was stolen from its original location by colonial powers... otherwise there wouldn't be much left of it today.

 

yeah i remember reading an account of the babylonian treasures present in iraq before the war and it made me sad. it's been in the news for all sorts of things but very seldom as mesopotamia, which is how i met it first.

 

I'm not upset by the Elgin Marbles or this, to tell the truth. I agree they probably survived because of it.

 

it's an ongoing discussion i have with a friend of mine who is a history major. she argues that where the facilities are sufficient, they should be returned to their home countries (that would exclude iraq, i think)

 

Returned to Iraq? Fergedditabtit.

Political Correctness is not always wrong, but can go too far.

 

sir this is what i said!

the greeks have built a museum to hold their stuff (the pergamon altar for once) and is it being returned? noho. the museums are being renamed instead, so it remains OK to keep holding on to the stuff.

i understand that it would be a loss to the country of the english men and women if they lost their marbles but they weren't theirs in the first place and so on and so forth...

it is a bit patronising i guess.

 

The Greeks used to quarry the Parthenon for building materials. I'll spare my tears.

Next: The Temple of Poseidon

Architect: Unknown

Completed: c. 550 BCE

Location: Paestum, Calabria, Italy

Style/Period: Ancient Greek, Doric

Greek city in Southern Italy, captured by the Romans in 273 BCE. Misnamed by the 18th century archeaologists that first examined it; it's actually a temple (one of three) dedicated to Hera. Best preserved building of the early Greek style.

[image=http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/Architec/AncientArchitectural/GreekArchitecture/GreekTempleArchitecture/poseidon.jpg]

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/PaestumItalien.jpg]

[image=http://www.jeffcook.info/Italy/photos/053%20Paestum%20-%20Temple%20of%20Poseidon%20with%20Mika.jpg]

 

Next: The Gate of the Nations

Architect: Unknown

Completed: Reign of Xerxes, 486-465 BCE

Location: Persepolis, Iran

Style/Period: Persian

[image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/2596416079_b77c51c47f.jpg]

[image=http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/images/355_300spartanwarriors_Gate_of_Al_Nations-A.jpg]

The Gate of all Nations

Begun during the reign of Darius and continued during the reign of his son, Xerxes. The Gate was the entrance to the city's inner sanctum. The entrance led to a courtyard, and then to the throne room.

 

Next: The Parthenon

Architect: Iktinos, Kallikrates, Pheidias

Completed: cf. 432 BCE

Location: Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Style/Period: Hellenistic

[image=http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/23498/144292/f/1024503-The-Parthenon-on-Acropolis-Hill-at-dusk-3.jpg]

[image=http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/greece/images/parthenon-500.jpg]

[image=http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/lunar-scenic-parthenon-03.jpg]

[image=http://www.yorgos.ca/images/parthenon.jpg]

Heart-breakingly damaged, but still standing, the largely Doric-style Parthenon is one of the most famous historical buildings in the world. Once contained a large statute of Athena (now gone) but does not seem to have been a temple.

 

Next: Erechtheion

Architect: Mnesicles (attributed)

Completed: cf. 405 BCE

Location: Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Style/Period: Hellenistic

[image=http://www.photoseek.com/01GRE-27-01-Erechtheion-Caryatids.jpg]

[image=http://www.sikyon.com/Athens/Monuments/erecheion.jpg]

[image=http://www.polygraphianz.com/A3PosterImages/A3Greek/3%20Erechtheion.jpg]

Ionic temple, north of the Pantheon. Unusually asymmetrical, with two projecting porches.

 

it's difficult judging from ruins. these temple types all look alike to me.

 

This would be so funny if it weren't so true....

Anyway...
The temples of Hera at Paestum are awesome and underrated. If you take a trip to Italy and see Pompei, there's no reason you can't go another half hour to see these. There is a lot still standing--there's actually a whole town being excavated, and while it's not cataclysmic like Pompei, it's still like a great big playground for... big kids....

The Parthenon is just wow, though. Too big to believe, so much detail (it's more in the museums though)....
And this colossal statue would be inside were it not lost:
[image=http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd123/Sauntaero/athenaparth.jpg]

 

How do you know what the statue looked like? Was there a surviving drawing?

Next: Great Stupa

Architect: Mnesicles (attributed)

Completed: mid 3rd-century BCE

Location: Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India

Style/Period: Buddhist.

[image=http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/india/great_stupa_sanchi_madhya_pradesh_india_photo.jpg]

[image=http://www.adventure-travel.org.uk/img/Sanchi-Great_Stupa_eastern_gateway.jpg]

[image=http://i.pbase.com/o3/29/602429/1/87956376.5bMW9ZRi.Secondgrou_erior6.jpg]

The Great Stupa is part of a large group of Buddhist buildings in India. A Stupa is a memorial shrine.

 

There are written descriptions as well as smaller copies surviving. Can't have the same effect, though.