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Propylaia

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on December 8, 2008 at 1:59:38 pm
 

Elliott Yancy

Caroline Johnson

Alex Ortiz

 

The Propylaia

 

 

Figure F016176

Athens, Propylaia, view from the north, 437–432 BC; photo credit: Vanni/ Art Resource, NY

 

Propylaia A gateway built as the entrance to the Acropolis. Once started, it was never completed fully. The north wing was famous for being the earliest known museum, a gallery built specifically to house a collection of paintings for public view. The unfinished right wing became a passageway to the Temple of Athena Nike. The person that Perikles commissioned to build the Propylaia, was a famous architect named Mnesikles. The first Propylaia had marble porches, four Doric columns, later, the Persians attacked the Athens and almost all of the Acropolis was destroyed, uncluding the Propylaia.

  • Description: Akropolis of Athens (Greece)
  • Source: from the German 1891 encyclopedia Joseph Kürschner (editor): “Pierers Konversationslexikon”. Pierers Konversationslexikon. Siebente Auflage. Mit Universal-Sprachen-Lexikon nach Prof. Joseph Kürschners System. Union. (published by) Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in Stuttgart, 1891. herausgegeben von (edited by) Joseph Kürschner Wikified and scanned by --Immanuel Giel 12:02, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

 

 

[Akropolis of Athens (Greece) from the German 1891 encyclopedia Joseph Kürschner (editor): “Pierers Konversationslexikon”. Pierers Konversationslexikon. Siebente Auflage. Mit Universal-Sprachen-Lexikon nach Prof. Joseph Kürschners System. Union. (published by) Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in Stuttgart, 1891. herausgegeben von (edited by) Joseph Kürschner]

 

More about Mnesikles:

Mnesikles, a Greek architect, designed the Propylaia, the monumental gateway to the Athenian Acropolis. Begun in 437 BC but never finished, probably due to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431 BC), this building may have undergone several changes in design while under construction. Mnesikles showed great originality in adapting it to a restricted area on different levels. The Propylaia departs from the largely conventional character of earlier Greek architecture in giving an illusion of symmetry, housing a multiplicity of activities under abutting roofs, accommodating different ground levels and using darker stone not only for highlighting but also to create an optical illusion. The basic design, with a central structure (the gatehouse proper, consisting of porches to east and west separated by a wall with five openings) framed by projecting wings, inspired several buildings in the Athenian Agora, and probably also the skene (stage building) with projecting wings that became standard for Greek theatres. Though the Propylaia remained unfinished, the quality of its workmanship is exceptional. This must be attributed to Mnesikles’ dual role as designer and master builder.

Ancient Greek monumental gateway, originally to a religious sanctuary; the term was later also applied to civic buildings. The simpler type of propylon consisted of an outer and an inner porch separated by a wall; in the most elementary examples the porches were linked by a single opening. More elaborate gateways, also known as propylaia, had three or more doorways.

Early examples of the propylon occurred in Bronze Age Minoan and Mycenaean palaces. After a long hiatus, and without any evidence of continuity, they reappeared in Archaic times. One propylon (c. 625 BC; c. 10*5 m), at the Sanctuary of Hera on Samos, consisted of a passage flanked by two rooms on either side with no trace of a door. The early 6th-century BC entrance to the Sanctuary of Aphaia on Aigina probably had two wooden columns in antis. It was, however, replaced in the 490s BC by a building of similar plan with octagonal stone columns, so slender that they must have carried a wooden architrave. The slighty later ‘Old Propylon’ on the Athenian Acropolis was built on two levels and probably had four Doric columns in antis and five gateways, though it was never finished. Another Doric propylon at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Sounion, again in Attica, was also on two levels, linked by a single step (1a). It was, however, distyle in antis and had three doorways, including a central opening approached by a ramp for sacrificial animals. A ramp was also incorporated in the Propylaia on the Athenian Acropolis (437–432 BC), the first building in Classical Greece to accommodate several different units with their respective functions. Its central element, the gatehouse proper, again linked two levels, with five steps and five doorways. Its porches each had six prostyle Doric columns, though the deep outer porch also incorporated an inner colonnade of 3*2 Ionic columns. The building was to have been flanked by extensive wings, giving it a total width of 68.16 m, but these were never completed .

 

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