Exercise #18 – Answers

Q.1. Do you know this building? Yes /No. Describe it.

A.1. Yes, I visited it many years ago. It is a colonnaded marble building with eight columns on the front and back. Although ruined now the remains of a triangular pediment can be seen above the façade. There are 17 columns on the sides right and left making it a rectangular building. The columns have vertical ridges and stand without any base and each is surmounted by a square capital above.

Q.2. Where do you think it is located?

A.2. The building is situated on the top of a hill called the Acropolis, looking down over the city of Athens, the capital of Greece in the Mediterranean.

Q.3. When do you think it was built? Give reasons.

A.3. It is clearly a very old building given its ruined state. It is also a style of building that looks more like a temple than a place for living. I would guess that it dates back to the B.C. era or early centuries A.D.

Q.4. As far as you can see, do you think that it is perfectly symmetrical on the front façade with the eight columns, for example?

A.4. Yes, it looks symmetrical. In fact, the whole building looks symmetrical.

Notes

The Parthenon was built as a temple to Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom who gave her name to the capital city of Athens. It was specifically built in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over the Persians. It is called the Parthenon from ‘Athena Parthenos,’ meaning ‘the virgin’ in Greek. It is regarded as the a monument to Greek democracy and represents the height of Ancient Greek architecture and sculptural design.

Throughout the centuries it has survived damage from war and a bomb explosion as well as many restoration efforts, some more successful than others.

Visual adjustments:

Although it looks perfectly symmetrical on all sides, there are few straight lines or right angles in the building. For example, the apparently perfect line of columns of the façade was achieved by subtle optical distortions such as the tapering of the columns towards the top, and the slight swelling part of the way up to avoid the impression of narrowing at the centre. Also to avoid an apparent sagging effect, the base of the façade is about 6 cm higher at the centre than at the corners. These and other visual refinements show a remarkable knowledge of geometry and the subtleties of human visual perception.

The Classical Orders of architecture:

The whole building is made of the simplest of the Classical Orders, the Doric, which has no base and a square capital above the column.

The Golden Ratio:

Many have argued that the Parthenon is designed according to the proportions of the Golden Ratio (1.618), the most aesthetically pleasing shape to the human eye.