As Europe begins to open up to travelers again, it's more exciting than ever to think about the cultural riches that lie ahead. For me, one of the greatest joys of travel is personal acquaintance with great art, which I collected in the book 100 Greatest Masterpieces of Europe . Here is one of my favorites:
For 2,000 years, the Parthenon temple in Athens remained virtually intact. However, during the siege of Athens in 1687, the Parthenon was used to store large quantities of gunpowder. (See where this is going?) Pow! A powerful explosion scattered much of the Parthenon everywhere. Later, in 1801, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, brought the most valuable surviving piece of carved stone to London, where it still delights visitors to this day, the Elgin Marbles.
The British Museum in London displays sculptures and relief panels that once adorned the top of the Parthenon's facade and are now on display. Reliefs carved in 430 BC. C. is part of a 500-meter-long frieze that once surrounded the temple. They show 56 pictures of the most festive event of ancient Athens - the grand parade on the Acropolis hill in honor of the city's birthday.
The parade begins with horsemen trying to rein in their galloping horses. Then come flute musicians and dancers. Respectable citizens ride in chariots, children run, and priests drive ceremonial bulls for sacrifice. In the middle of the march is a group of teenage girls. Dressed in elegantly draped robes, they bring gifts for the gods, such as incense and pitchers of stone.
Girls are entrusted with the main gift of the parade - a folded hat. After the parade at the Parthenon, the girls symbolically handed over the cloak to the 40-meter gold and ivory statue of Athena in the temple.
The realism is remarkable: clearly defined muscles of men, bulging veins of horses. The girls' intricate layers of clothing stabilize them like billowing columns, but they emerge naturally: a human form emerging from stone. These panels were originally painted in bright colors. Amid the flurries of detail, the frieze has a unifying element: all the heads are at the same level, pointing in the same direction, creating a single human bond around the Parthenon.
The main entrance of the Parthenon is decorated with a magnificent scene depicting the birth of the city of Athens. These statues were located inside the triangular pediment above the gate. It represents the Greek gods reclining at the Olympic festival. Suddenly there is activity. The gods return to a miraculous event: Zeus is beheaded to reveal Athena, the symbol of the city. (Unfortunately, this main scene is missing; it's just the blank space above the triangle.)
These pedimented sculptures are realistic and three-dimensional, lying in perfectly natural and relaxed poses. Women's dresses fit and wrinkle naturally, revealing the perfect anatomy underneath.
The last group of relief panels (called metopes) represent the Greek legend that summarizes the entire Parthenon. They depict early Greeks fighting brutal centaurs. It's a hair fight, throat grabs, kicks to the legs and knees to the groin. Finally, the people take power, symbolizing the victory of the civilized Athenians over their barbarian neighbors.
In real life, the Greeks recovered from a brutal war and crowned their recovery with the construction of the Parthenon. Precious Elgin marbles are the cream of this great Greek temple. And they mark the moment in human history when civilization triumphed over barbarism, rational thought over animal impulses, and order over chaos.