Greece - an amazing country, covered with numerous myths and legends. Her heroic, victorious and defeated history seems to be forever imprinted in her majestic architecture, which is an example of impeccable forms and high style for thousands of years. Architects and sculptors of Greece were able to reach unprecedented peaks in the art of architecture and largely determined the nature of the architecture of other countries, especially Italy and parts of Asia.

According to the ancient myth, the very first buildings in Greece were built by Cyclopes, there is even such an architectural style - "Cyclopean" - representing the construction of massive stone slabs .Then came the Mycenaean era, when they began to erect various religious buildings and tombs .The dawn of the same Greek architecture and the period of large-scale construction of world famous temples of Ancient Greece is the classical period, which began approximately in the IV century BC .It was then that the main temples of the Acropolis of Athens were built .

Ancient temples and sanctuaries

The central place in the architecture of the ancient Greeks was occupied by temples. The sanctuaries of the gods were first built in the likeness of the Greek dwellings, but later they themselves became an example for other buildings. Greeks, like no other people in the world, humanized their gods, so the temples were very close to people. They did not inspire awe and did not frighten off their solemn grandeur. These were simple rectangular buildings with spacious halls without windows, which housed a huge statue of the deity.

Interiors

The interior decoration was rather modest, as many people were not allowed to enter the rooms, but the appearance of the sanctuaries amazes with the grace of forms, beautiful sculptural friezes and its massive, but at the same time graceful columns. The latter were called to visually enlarge the building, giving it scope. It was the columns that were beaten by the distinctive element of each of the three styles at different times reigned in the architecture of Ancient Greece.

Doric columns were massive and strict, they were crowned with friezes with different ornaments, an example of this is the partially preserved temple of Zeus - the Olipion. Later from Asia to Greece Ionic style came, more refined, with various decorative elements. And the maximum pomposity and luxury was the Corinthian style, then the columns were generously decorated with sculptural compositions with plant motives.

In the erection of each temple participated absolutely all residents of the city, its construction and decoration did not spare any funds - marble, gold and other building materials were transported from all parts of the country. Each building was built not one decade, had its own project and the exact ratio of all proportions. The best sculptors of the state, ornamental friezes, columns, sculptural compositions were engaged in the decoration of the temples and now they amaze with their irreproachable forms and accuracy of the smallest details.

Which temples are worth visiting

The largest number of churches is concentrated, of course, in Athens, the most majestic of which is the Parthenon, built in honor of the patroness of the city - a warlike and wise Athens .It has a number of unique architectural highlights, in particular, all the details in it correspond with each other according to the principle of the golden section .Today it is undergoing reconstruction works .Here is the temple of Erechtheinon, where, according to legend, there was a battle between Athena and Poseidon .The role of columns in this temple is performed by sculptures of beautiful Caryatids .

Apart from the others, there is a small, but from this no less majestic temple of the goddess of the victory of Nicky, and in it once there was a statue, which the Athenians chopped off their wings so that the victory never flew from them. Also, according to legend, it was in this temple that King Aegeus was waiting for his son from a distant campaign, and he died tragically, having thrown himself into the abyss of the Aegean Sea now.

Not far from the hill of the Acropolis there is a small mountain of Agora, on top of which there is a temple of the god of fire of Hephaestus, he was least influenced by time and very well preserved to the present day. And if you go down from the mountain to the sea, you can find the ruins of the once beautiful temple of Poseidon. But even now this place is mesmerizing with its beauty and picturesque landscapes - once it forever conquered Byron and was sung in many of his works.

The highest and monumental structure of Athens is the Olympia, the sanctuary of the supreme Olympic god and the cradle of the Olympic Games. Today it is in ruins, but the well-preserved columns testify to its former mighty greatness.

In general, every Greek city has its own Acropolis, where ancient temples are preserved that speak about the high level of culture of the ancient Greeks, which allowed them more than two thousand years ago to build structures worthy of admiration even in our age of high technologies.