We first started learning about Greek architecture, these are a few of the most iconic buildings created by the Greeks:
Palace of Knossos
- Minoan Palace, c.1900-1350 BC
- Excavated by Arthur Evans – 1900-1905
- Significantly reconstructed
Even though the Palace of Knossos was constructed a long time go you can see there is a huge amount of sophistication in the design and construction of the building. As you can see from the image below on the left, the site is actually holds a huge plot of land and this enabled many rooms for accommodation. From a social point of view it has been very refined.
- Parthenon, c.437-432 BC
The complex actually sits above the city, you can see the Acropolis pretty much anywhere around the city. What I was most intrigued with was the use of columns, how they have been calculated very precisely. I was amazed to find out that they actually built the columns thicker around the center as they knew things tend to get smaller from further away so by making the center thicker than the rest is seems that the overall columns shares the same thickness. I was also intrigued to find out how they were able to construct such big columns and lift them up, today we tend to use cranes to lift up heavy materials but that sort of technology didn't exist back then. So really when the build columns they construct it in sections, like drums. So if you was to deconstruct these columns you would find a series of segments. The Pantheon is a big public building, which shows power and very dominant.
What was clear to see that the Greeks were amazing architects/workmen, even though they lived in an era where there was very little technology they still were able to create such vast buildings and they still had a great amount of sophistication in their work. Even to this day i still think buildings like the Acropolis and the Palace of Knossos make a very big statement, in terms of power and sophistication.