GREECE: A place every Architect needs to see

I recently spent a week in Greece. I would have to say, for the most part, it was everything I hoped it would be. Athens is the first place you learn about in architecture 101, and a place that I have continued to learn about over the course of my education.

Day one in Greece.

Maddy, Chrissy, and I checked into our hotel after the 3-hour flight from Spain. After checking in we decided to go to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. This museum houses one of the largest archaeological collections with works dating from pre-historic times to late antiquity. It contains a lot of the sculptures and pottery that have been found in Greece over time. The art ranged from grave goods found in Mycenae from the Bronze Age to beautiful life size bronze sculptures found shipwrecked in the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Below is the photo of the either Poseidon or Zeus that was found at Sea. Archaeologist cannot decide who it is because they cannot tell if he used to have a lightning bolt in his hand or a trident.

Day two in Greece is a day that I will remember for my entire life.

On day two we woke early in the morning to go to the Acropolis before the rest of the crowds. Climbing up the hill to get to the top of the acropolis we passed the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and many other ruins before arriving at the Propylaea. Walking through the Propylaea we then reached the Parthenon.

The Parthenon was positioned in such a way that when we enter the gate to the acropolis (the Propylaea) you get the best view of the Parthenon, which is a slightly titled view so the visitors can see the great size of the temple. Though originally a temple, the Parthenon has not always served that purpose. It has served military and other religious groups over time, as Athens was always a place that people wanted to conquer in the old world. In our modern day, it is being restored to look as it was when it was a Greek Temple and in its full glory before it was bombed. Being able to see this building in a 100 percent pure and new white marble would have been extremely stunning. Pictures of the Parthenon below.

Here you can see the Erechtheion and the Parthenon in the same view.

After admiring the Parthenon for a while, we walked around on the rest of the acropolis and studied the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. Then I sat back down on a stone-cold marble ruin sketching the Parthenon, and I almost froze my fingers off from the wind at the top but it was worth it. Especially considering, this is such an important building in architecture. Below is an image of my sketch of the building.

Being up there, it was very cool to think about how many other architects have visited this place. In class, we have recently learned that CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) had its forth international conference on a boat in Greece, and they visited the Acropolis. Among the architects in the group stands Le Corbusier; arguably one of the most famous architects of all time. It is amazing to thing that I am now in the group of select architects who have visited this very important place in our education. Below I have a picture from the CIAM 4 conference, and then a picture of me and Maddy on the Acropolis as well. Showing our excitement to be at this very historic place.

After the Acropolis, we walked down to the Roman Agora were there was not much to see besides the entrance that was left, or some ruins of capitals that I snuck up and touched. Though, from the streets near the Agora you did get a great view of the Acropolis from below. After the Roman Agora, we grabbed some lunch and then went to the Athenian Agora. The Athenian Agora was marvelous. A lot of it was in ruins, but the Temple of Hephaisteion was nearly completed restored, and the Stoa of Attalos was as well. Hephaisteion pictured below.

Sketches of the Stoa columns below and pictures from the Stoa:

After finishing at the Agora, the day was about at an end so we headed over to the Temple of Zeus to watch the sunset over the Acropolis. This temple was never actually finished, but if it would have been it would have been larger than the Parthenon. The Roman Emperor Hadrian would loved the Greeks actually tried to complete it, but really only finished himself Hadrian’s Arch. Below is a photo of the arch and the temple.

Day 3:

On our third day in Athens we went to the Acropolis Museum, designed by Bernard Tschumi. You were not allowed to take photos in many parts of the museum, but the parts people can take photos of are extremely beautiful. The 1st and 2nd floors in the museum house a lot of the sculpture that was once on the Acropolis, including the original Caryatid columns that were on the Erechtheion (the women columns that you see in the photo below form the Acropolis the day before).

The third floor was different from the rest of the museum in the fact that is was oriented in a different direction from the rest of the plans, and mirrored the exact location of the Parthenon on the acropolis. With this mirroring, I could see outside the windows and imagine just how all the sculpture sat on the building. Out of all the museums that I have been to this year, this museum is by far one of my favorites. I am extremely excited to go to the British Museum now and see the original frieze that the British took from Greece a long time ago, and refuse to give back. Even after Greece did make a special place for it in the Acropolis Museum.

Below are images I took on the 3rd floor of the very well-designed museum.

After finishing up at the Acropolis Museum we walked over to the first modern Olympic Stadium. I sat in the marble seats that were originally meant for the king and Queen. My friends and I also go to run on the track and pretend we were Olympic athletes while learning about the history of the Olympic games.

After the stadium, we walked over to the Cycladic Art museum. They had a great exposition on the Cycladic figures that I am very fond of. These sculptures range from 3,000 to 1,500 years old. Most of them are small, but some of them are huge. No one is sure what they are for. Some archaeologist believe they were for burials, others believe they were for women when they were pregnant, and others believe they were for social class. I personally think they could have been for all of these reasons. The Greeks buried a lot with people, but ancient cultures also really cared about a woman during time of pregnancy, and the only reason anyone would have a life-size one of these would be if they were important in society or filthy rich. I ended up purchasing a couple of these sculptures at a small scale from a vendor before leaving Greece; much cheaper than in the museums. Pictures of the beautiful figures below that Picasso later drew inspiration from.

After the museums, we went and saw Sweeny Todd. We thought the musical would be in English, but it was actually in Greek with English subtitles so I could still understand it. The singers were beautiful no matter what language I was listening to.

Day 4:

On day 4 Chrissy left to visit some family that came to see her in Spain, while Maddy and I woke up at 5:45 a.m. to get on a bus to go to Delphi. Waking up that early was a 110% worth it. Delphi was a GORGEOUS city. The old city had a treasury, a theater, track, temple, and anything that you could really need in a town. The treasury was very well restored, and I can only imagine what the town would look like if it was all restored that well. After visiting the old Delphi site we went down to the museum that housed a lot of the sculpture from the site, and then when down to the Sanctuary of Athena. Pictures and sketches from Delphi below.

Both the old and the new city sat on the rocks high in the mountains and where beyond stunning. This is my first time ever living in a place other than Illinois, and before now I never really understood people’s fascination with mountains. After traveling around Europe for the past two months, I too am a lover of mountains! You could build anything on the side of a mountain and it would be stunning. At the end of the day Maddy and I ate dinner in one of these mountain-side restaurants, and after dinner we watched the sun set over the mountains. I would like to challenge the world to allow me to see a more perfect sunset, because I am not sure I will but will be very pleasantly surprised if I do.

Day 5:

This day was the only day that it rained on our trip. Which was a pleasant surprise considering that November is supposed to be the rainy month in Greece. My sophomore year of college Maddy and I both took an archaeology class dealing primarily with Athens and other parts of Greece. In this class, we learned about all the places I had previously talked about, but we knew that we needed to see some of the oldest places in all the known world to really consider ourselves junior archaeologists. So, on this day we actually took a bus tour with an archaeologist of Athens named Vicky. The first place Vicky took us too was the city of Mycenae. She had to sleep there before finals when she was in college and memorize rocks. Due to the fact Vicky did memorize so much about this site she was the perfect one to tell us about it. We learned how no one really knows why the civilization left this old city, but that it has stood the test of time with its large stones that weigh tons. (Literally, the lintel over the door below weighs multiple tons. I just forget the exact number of tons she said.)

Another amazing place we stopped was Epidaurus. Epidaurus was a small city in ancient Greece with hospital before hospitals existed. At this place started some of the first practices of medicine, because it was known to be the birthplace of Apollo’s sun Aesculapius who could bring people back from the dead. People would travel across far seas to be treated at this place. They had many places to house patients. Below you can see a photo near the site people were housed. This place was also a city like any other, and is very famous for its theater here. The Epidaurus Ancient Theater is an outdoor theater that is still used in the summer time today. It has never needed microphones because it is the only place with PERFECT acoustics. If you drop a coin in the middle of the stage, the person at the highest point can hear it and this theater can hold 12,000 people. Vicky dropped the coin for Maddy, me, and the rest of the people in our group and I can attest to the fact that it can be heard from the very bottom to the very top. It is still a mystery to engineers today how the acoustics are so perfect.

Picture in the city of Epidaurus:

Day 6:

On our last day in Greece, Maddy and I were exhausted so we just slept in a little and walked around before having to go to the airport around noon. We went to our favorite bakery one more time and had some coffee and Greek yogurt (or normal yogurt because we were actually in Greece).

Greece was beyond amazing, but if you ever go there make sure to use the bathroom in your hotel and at every restaurant. The public bathrooms in Greece are by far the worst of any country I have been to. Bright side though, Greece was also the cheapest country that I have ever been too. When I say cheap I mean I could get a couple legs of lamb and potatoes with wine for around 12 euros, and that is from a nicer restaurant there. I ate breakfast and lunch for less than 5 euros a day, and a bottle of water was also 50 cents. It was also free for me to get into all the monuments and museums because I am a student of the EU currently. This was a major plus because I would have had to pay 5 to 25 euros to get into all the places above.

Overall Greece was amazing. It was almost euphoric to get to visit these places that I have been learning about it school for so long, and am continuing to learn about. I imagine that maybe one day I will go back on a cruise and see the Greek islands, but for now I have the memories of the most beautiful temples in a stunning historic city.