I was most impressed with the Karyatids (female figures) on the Erechtheion at the Acropolis when we visited last week.
The amazing sculptures are copies, the originals, 5 of the 6, are in the Acropolis museum. One was stolen by Lord Elgin and is in the British Museum.
We visited the Acropolis Museum. It is a huge building located 300 metres south of the foot of the rock. It sits above remains revealed during excavations.
Photos are not allowed in some areas of the museum, but I was happy that find that the Karyatids are not on that list.
The 6 korai are 2.2 metres high. Instead of columns, they supported the low flat roof of the south porch of the temple. They are dressed in pleated robes, like flutes of columns. Their elaborate hairstyles are both decorative and add strength to the neck area of the sculptures.
It is an amazing feeling to be able to walk around and admire these beautiful sculptures that were created between 421 and 406 BC. Oh to have seen them when they were new!
The faces are worn away, but you can see how stunning they must have been.
From the back the hairstyles seem to have survived almost intact. The lighting is giving the sculptures a different colour.
On the third floor of the building is the rectangular gallery housing the Parthenon sculptures. The display is big enough to accommodate the entire sculpted decoration of the Parthenon. As far as possible the friezes are in the position they would have occupied on the Parthenon.
The frieze has a total length of 160 metres and a height of 1 metre and comprises of 115 stone blocks. An actual event is depicted. The Procession of the Panathenia, a festival celebrated every 4 years in honour of the goddess Athena.
This metopes was taken down recently from the Parthenon recently after 25 centuries to be exhibited in the museum. The battles of the centaurs were a favourite subject of the Athenians, a metaphor for the struggles between civilisation and barbarism.
It is difficult to describe the magnificence of the antiquities on display. People have created wonderful things for thousands of years.
What a pity greed, aggression and war have destroyed so much. How amazing the world would be if time, energy and money was put to good use instead of bad. All lives would be better.