Parthenon at Acropolis
Heading west again, we must stop in
at Greece and the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis.
The Parthenon is perhaps the world's greatest
'non' monument. It is a temple ruin, not a monument.
However, it does fall under the memorial category
in so far as it created a design format and
standard for almost every monument built since.
If you attend the Barre Regional Vocational
Center for the Memorial Arts or any school which
teaches art forms, you soon learn that
proportion is the key to all design and that
the Parthenon is the universal benchmark for
proportion. That is why to this day the
perfect monolith is a derivative of a rectangle
measuring 3 feet by 2 feet. 'Things' which hold
up this rectangle are columns set at exactly two
columns apart. And these columns are designed
to move the eye upwards - toward heaven
and inspiration. Buttresses, flying buttresses,
lean-tos and arches are common enough, but they just
never caught on as wall supports when beauty was
the principal aim of the design.
The Parthenon will never be regarded as
a genuine monument, but it speaks clearly
to us about the design of monuments and it
certainly says a lot about the Grecian ideal
of beauty which we still hold dear to the present
day..