FRYKTORIES present the speech: "The Virgin" Speaker: Manolis Korres Academician-Architect, Emeritus Professor of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens The speech was given on Friday, November 03, 2023 in the lecture hall of the Acropolis Museum. Organization: Union of Friends of Acropolis. Audio-visual documentation: FRYKTORIES TV Internet Channel Fryktorias warmly thanks Mr. Manolis Korre for the permission to record and post his speech, the Union of Friends of Acropolis for consenting to the recording and the Acropolis Museum for hospitality and technical service. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ----------------- Short summary. The marble vertebrae built into the north wall were first studied in 1807 by the famous WM Leake, who then climbed, not without danger, the precipitous rock. Leake, who was wrong a few times, once again arrived at a correct explanation: the vertebrae must belong to that older temple, which Hesychius means when he refers to the Parthenon (lit. Hekatompedos) "...newly in the acropolis of the Virgin built under Athenian, major of the one burned under the Persians fifty fifty". Thus began the study of the Proparthenon which, according to Leake, must have been smaller than the Parthenon and certainly predated the Persians. What Leake began was continued by Ross, in 1835, with excavations to the west and south of the Parthenon, which revealed the following: A large quantity of half-finished vertebrae in the east in a zone extending to the south wall, together with tools and others related to stone carving, such as e.g. paints in pots which we now know were useful for various markings and for checking the perfection of surface levels. The foundation of the Parthenon is at most the most ancient part of the temple. This part is independent and is the initially visible pedestal of the oldest temple. From the dimensions of the pedestal (31.4×76.8 m.) it can be concluded that this temple must also have been very large and with rather elongated proportions. To the east of the Parthenon the giant pedestal does not fit the classical temple, but protrudes almost 5 meters from the line of the first marble step. For the placement of the classical temple, only a relatively small increase of the original podium to the north was required. This increase was made with similar material, i.e. Piraeus stones, but without any care for an elaborate appearance. Apparently, the new plans required an extensive leveling of the ground with artificial embankments up to the height of the temple entablature, while the older ones provided that around the temple the ground would be considerably lower and that the upper part of the podium would be visible and therefore elaborate . A particular subject of study was for Ross and the sequence of soil layers. The opinions of Leake and Ross regarding the dating of the Preparthenon were generally accepted and there were no disagreements except about the possible form of the building. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------- SPEAKER'S BIOGRAPHY Emeritus professor of NTUA, Dr. Architect-Mech. NTUA, Dr. Ph. hc FUBerlin., Regular member of the Academy of Athens. Member of the Central Archaeological Council of Greece, the Acropolis Monuments Conservation Committee, etc. scientific committees. He taught Ancient Architecture, Historical Topography, Restorations, etc. at NTUA (Undergraduate, 1999-2015, Postgraduate 1998-present), University of Athens (Postgraduate, 2008 onwards), PennsylvaniaUniversity (Feb. - Apr. 1993) and University of California, Berkeley (Feb. - Apr. .1994) Responsible for the project of the Dionysian theater, 1980-1983 and the project of the Parthenon 1983-1999. Study areas of historical monuments: Mani, Neolithic Thessaly, Naxos, Paros, Amorgos, Pythion (Evrou), Metropolis of Karditsa, Molykreion of Nafpaktia, Amykles, Tzoumerka, Ravenna, Etruria, Jerusalem etc. In most cases he also contributed to the maintenance, fixing or restoration. Topics: Historical Topography of Athens over time, Ancient Architecture, Pre-industrial construction, Byzantine fortifications, History of bridges, Quarrying, Stonework, Lifting and Transportation Technology, Water supply, Megalithism, Restoration Theory, Structural Maintenance of Historical Monuments, etc. Scholarships: Ministry of Education, DAAD, DAI-Berlin, Princeton University, Fulbright. Publications: 11 books and about 100 articles. Other: Design of mechanical structures. Exhibition of his designs in Greece and abroad. -------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- For any information or complaint, please let us know at the main website: http://www.fryktories.net ---------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -----------------------