Build in the honor of the Goddess Athens on the top of the Athenian Acropolis between 447-438 BC, the Parthenon is a majestic temple, which reflects the Greek artistic power and architectural ingenuity (Jenkins 76). This construction was built under the reign of Pericles for celebrating the end of the war between Athens and Persia, but its historical significance comprises many more scenes that left the scars of various dominations through time, such as the bombardment during the Ottoman domination, when, in 1687, the Venetian troops fired the Parthenon, which served the Ottomans as the fortress and the place where they deposited their ammunition, causing “enormous damage to the structure and sculpture” (Beard 43).
The temple is considered to be the most significant piece of architecture dating from the Ancient world, a masterpiece made totally out of marble, collected from Mount Pentelikon, from nearby Athens, measured 24 meters height, becoming the largest temple on the Greek mainland, comprising eight columns in front and back and 17 columns in each of the other sides (Jenkins 76).
The temple illustrates the quality of the craftsmen work, as the columns and the pediment (the triangular structure on either end of the building) are created so that they reflect an optical illusion, as the temple appears slender (Beard 106). Regarding the columns Jenkins observes that they taper in a curve, having a more solid foundation and becoming more curved atop, producing what is called entasis or tension and just like the walls, the columns lean inwards, as if intending to meet above the ceiling of the temple (79). The construction includes two pediments, situated one on the east and the other on the west side of the temple, and they both describe scenes that worship Athena and the Athenians: while the East pediment illustrates the birth of Athena, the West represents the contest between Athena and Poseidon for determining who would get to become the patron of the city (Gardner & Kleiner 116).
The temple included three friezes, out of which one is in Ionic style (inside) and the other two in Doric style (one located over the north porch columns and the other over the south porch columns), each including six metopes each (Jenkins 139). The friezes that surround the temple at its top illustrate Athenian events, such as the Panathenaic Procession, a local festival that celebrates the birthday of Athena (Beard 133). The Ionic freeze is considered the most remarkable part in termsof sculptures included in the Parthenon, including representations of Athenians celebrating the Panathenaic Festival, with chariots and musicians, with horses, carriers, and animals due to be sacrificed, with gods and goddesses as attendants to this festival or with the special Olympian deities that are simply spectators to this event (Gardner & Kleiner 116). The metopes, 92 in total, located on each side of the temple, depict different scenes from the Greek’s history or mythology: on the north side of the architecture there are scenes reminding of the Troy episode; on the west the theme reflected is the Amazons fighting Greeks; on the east a mythological representation shows the Olympian gods fighting the giants who previously held the supremacy, for overruling them and the south side illustrates the fights between Centaurs and Greeks (Jenkins 83).
The temple comprises statues with larger dimensions than real life sizes, including a gold and ivory statue, the statue of Athena Parthenons, the Virgin, reaching 38 feet tall, causing the cella to be wider in order to surround this huge statue (Gardner & Kleiner 115).
The presence of gods and the scenes depicted on the various Parthenon parts indicate the glorious history of Greece, being a symbol of authority. The fact that the Athenians themselves are exposed in the Parthenon illustrates their self – perceived greatness, and their believed right to celebrate along gods and goddesses, which is a sign of power that translates into the idea that worshiping the power of gods they become powerful themselves, and worthy to stay near these great figures, throughout time. Likewise, the structure of the construction, long and thin, suggests the idea of altitude, of high aspirations, of reaching the above, the gods, the supreme, and adding the fact that the temple is placed on the top of the Acropolis suggests precisely the idea of authority, as that was a special place, dedicated to the most powerful figures. Hence, this work of art indicates power and authority through its location and positioning, through its architectural style and through the ideas, symbols and representations that it reflects.
Another imposing architectural building, Sagrada Familia, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, whose construction started in 1882 and it still work in progress, is an expression of the art – nouveau style, combining the Gothic with naturalism style. In fact, the construction itself was a naturalism experiment, as within this Roman catholic church there can be visible various elements extracted from nature, such as the tree branches, serving as the support for the columns that sustain the ceiling (“Temple Expiatori Sagrada Damilia”).
At the basis of the building Gaudi utilized twisted surfaces and curved planes, while the columns and arches rising on top of them received a natural shape (Hosey 137). The towers in the church becomes thinner and thinner as it progresses, seeming to defy gravity and creating an impressive visual effect of greatness, defining the authority of the Roman catholic church. At the top of the towers there can be identified pinnacles shapes, also inspired by nature, describing flowers or plant into their decorations (Farrelly 27).
The construction is designed to have 18 towers, 12 for each Apostle (eight are currently created), four for the Evangelists and one for the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ (Farrelly 27). The church is designed on a structural hierarchy, so that there are four central columns that will sustain the weight of the tower of Jesus Christ that is designed, but not yet built, which will reach 170 m height; the columns will also sustain the weight of the four towers of the evangelists; the next eight columns that surround the previous four will sustain the greatest load of the evangelists, while the columns of the apse will support the tower of the Virgin Mary and of the vaults and the triforium that will reach 45 m; next, the columns situated in the central nave carry the vaults of the central nave but also elements of the side nave, while the columns that sustain the side naves and the main nave hold the choir (“Temple Expiatori Sagrada Damilia”). Regarding the columns, Farrelly observes that beside their purpose of supporting the load of the towers above, they represent original architectural elements, as they are shape-changing, starting from an octagonal base, developing into a 16 sided shape and ending into a circle form atop (30).
Sagrada Familia has three facades (to the East nativity, to the South the Glory façade and to the West the Passion façade), and its exterior expresses Christianity scenes and themes, but also naturalistic elements such as iguana, snakes or turtle sculptures, coming from the architect’s direct interest towards nature as a constitutive element of art and architecture (Farrelly 27; (“Temple Expiatori Sagrada Damilia”).
The interior of Sagrada Familia comprises five aisles and a central nave, whose vault reaches 60 meters, taking a hyperboloid structure of 75 meters, meant to deliver an optical illusion, so that the vault to seem like it increases in height as visitors approach it (Farrelly 27).
The Christian scenes and motifs depict the authority of Christian religion and so is the Gothic style, which expresses formality and vertical relations, because of the architectural structures that are directed towards the sky. Seeing Sagrada Familia from the distance, this appears not only an impressive engineering and architectural construction made out of solid stone, (Farrelly 30) but also a symbol of power and authority, as it inspires admiration but in the same time it makes the viewer feel small and humble while worshiping a building destined to God, which seems to aspire above for reaching Him. Sagrada Familia conveys power and authority through the Gothic architecture, naturalistic design, themes represented and through a diverse and majestic phylum of elements that combine Christian motifs with nature inspired elements that can be visible within the church.
Works Cited
Beard, Mary. The Parthenon. London, Profile Books, Ltd. 2010. Print.
Farrelly, Lorraine. Basics Architecture 02: Construction & Materiality. Lausanne, AVA Publishing SA. 2009. Print.
Garnder, Helen & Kleiner, Fred, S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: the Western Perspective. Boston, Wadsworth. 2010. Print.
Hosey, Lance. The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design. Washington, Island Press. Print.
Jenkins, Ian. Greek Architecture and Its Sculpture. London, The Trustees of the British Museum. 2006. Print.
Temple Expiatori Sagrada Familia. Accessed on 30 August 2013. Retrieved from http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/docs_instit/pdf/geom_01.pdf. Web.
