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63-563: The tower was on the western side of the Acropolis, near the monumental gateway known as the Propylaia . Throughout its history, the tower was used as a watchtower, a beacon, a salt-store and a prison. During the Greek War of Independence , the height of the tower was increased, and it was used to imprison the revolutionary Odysseas Androutsos , who was killed there in 1825. The tower's presence on

126-819: A careful study of the predecessors of the Propylaea. Since possibly 1975 it has been subject to ongoing restoration work under T. Tanoulas whose work has been published by the Acropolis Restoration Service as Μελέτη αποκαταστάσεως των Προπυλαίων (Study for the Restoration of the Propylaea) 1994. Perhaps the two most notable examples of the Propylaia's architectural influence are the Greater Propylaia at Eleusis and Langhans 's Brandenburg Gate of 1791. The former

189-517: A church in the tenth century AD when it was dedicated to the Taxiarches. The colonnade of the north-east wing was also walled off. In the same period, and specifically during the reign of Justinian , the large cistern between the north wing and the central building of the Propylaia was also constructed. During the De la Roche era of occupation the complex was converted to a fortified residence similar in form to

252-501: A double row of Ionic columns the capitals of which are orientated north-south, and is axially parallel with the Parthenon . The westward-projecting wings are attached to the central hall by way of a tristyle in antis Doric colonnade of a scale two-thirds of that of the central hall. The crepidoma of the wings is in the canonical three-step form and in Pentelic marble, but the last course of

315-546: A few days later the demolition was halted by order of King George, prompting Schliemann to write him an indignant letter of protest. In September, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education , which directed the Archaeological Service, declared that the demolition should be delayed, on the grounds that the time was not right for it. The operation finally resumed on 3 July [ O.S. 21 June] 1875 and

378-520: A further 9,000 drachmas to the Archaeological Society, whose committee subsequently voted in favour of the demolition – despite the objection of the society's president, Filippos Ioannou , that destroying the tower would reinforce foreign complaints that Greece had shown insufficient care for its medieval monuments – on 14 July [ O.S. 2 July]. Work began on 14 July [ O.S. 2 July], amid great publicity organised by Schliemann, but

441-600: A number of freestanding shrines and votives stood in the vicinity of the Propylaia, and have come to be associated with it if only by virtue of Pausanias' description of them and their proximity to the building. In the western precinct, there was the Hermes Propylaios by Alkamenes , which stood on the north end of the entrance. Similarly, a relief of the Graces , made by Sokrates (the Boeotian sculptor active around 450 BC), stood on

504-629: A number of works by masters of the fifth century. By Pausanias' time the picture gallery had been in existence for several centuries, so the Hellenistic historian Polemon of Ilion had written a, now lost, book entitled Περὶ τῶν ἐντοῖς Προπυλαίοις πινάκων (On the Panel Paintings in the Propylaia) which might have been an influence on the later writer. Satyros, writing in the third century, described two panels dedicated by Alkibiades after his victories in

567-520: A prominent member of the society and the head of the Greek Archaeological Service , obtained ministerial approval for the request, and oversaw Schliemann's payment of an initial 4,000 drachmas to Martinelli on 1 July [ O.S. 19 June] to cement the deal. However, the operation's beginning was delayed by the intervention of King George I and by the reluctance of Greek government ministers to give final permission. Schliemann presented

630-506: A significant gatehouse situated between the Mycenaean wall and the archaic apsidal structure known as Building B. What is evident, however, is that if the archaic gatehouse was not destroyed in the Persian attack of 480 then it must surely have been dismantled to facilitate the building works later in the century. Mnesikles was appointed architect of the new propylon in 438. From traces left in

693-476: A young rooster probably stood along the south wall. A small shrine dedicated to Athena Hygieia was erected against the southernmost column on the eastern facade soon after 430 BC. Though accounts differ, this last shrine might have been erected to thank Athena for the end of the great plague . Pausanias records that the inner compartment of the north-east wing was used to display paintings; he calls it οἴκημα ἔχον γραφάς, "a chamber with paintings", and describes

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756-641: Is assumed to have been an Imperial benefaction from the great expense that must have been occurred. The Propylaia's post-classical history sees it return to a military function beginning with the construction of the Beulé Gate in the late third century AD, perhaps associated with the refortification of Athens in the form of the Post-Herulian Wall . Built from the dismantled elements of the Choragic Monument of Nikias this gate may have been in response to

819-506: The Acciaioli family , at which time the so-called Frankish Tower was built. In the main building, the central passage still served as the only means of entry to the interior of the Acropolis . It is almost certain that the spaces between the Doric and Ionic columns of the northern part of the west hall were blocked by, probably low, walls, limiting a space that would have served as an antechamber for

882-599: The General Ephorate of Antiquities that he fund the demolition of the Frankish Tower, which he considered would cost him 12,000 francs: he explained this decision as a "service to science", though it has also been characterised as an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Greek authorities and expedite his requests for an archaeological permit. He believed that the demolition would be popular, remarking that "everyone in [Athens]

945-450: The Herulian invasions. Sometime in the early Byzantine period the south wing was converted into a chapel. This conversion must not have taken place before the end of the sixth century, since in all other cases of ancient monuments being converted into Christian churches, there is no evidence of an earlier application of such a process. The central section of the Propylaia was converted into

1008-498: The Pnyx he invited the demos to gaze on the gates and recall Salamis. It wasn't only the object of approbation, however, Cicero in his De Officiis 2.60 (citing Demetrios of Phaleron ) critiques the financial profligacy of the building. The first documentary evidence of the Propylaia from the early modern period is Niccolò di Martoni's account of 1395 which indicated that the Beulé Gate

1071-483: The euthynteria below is in a contrasting blue Eleusian limestone. The orthostates of the two wings were also made of dark Eleusinian limestone, this visual continuity was maintained with the orthostates of the central hall and the top step on the interior flight of stairs all constructed in the same limestone. The interior of the Central Hall is divided by a wall in which there are five doorways symmetrically arranged;

1134-619: The spolia used in the tower's construction might include valuable inscriptions, and from those who saw it as an intrusion on the earlier Greek remains of the Acropolis. In July 1834, the German architect Leo von Klenze arrived in Athens to advise the Greek king Otto on the development of the city. At Klenze's instigation, the Acropolis was demilitarised and designated an archaeological site on 30 August [ O.S. 18 August]. Klenze, despite his general determination to remove post-classical remains from

1197-584: The Acropolis was controversial, particularly after 1834, when the government of King Otto of Greece undertook to clear the site of its post-classical remains. While the tower was initially exempted from this project for its perceived aesthetic value, as well as its symbolic role in connecting western Europe and classical Greek culture, it was seen as a foreign imposition upon the Acropolis by many in Greece, particularly archaeological figures such as Kyriakos Pittakis and Lysandros Kaftanzoglou . In 1875, with funding from

1260-503: The Acropolis, favoured the preservation of the medieval structures near the Propylaia for what he considered their "picturesque" appeal, a view shared by the regent Carl Wilhelm von Heideck . The proposal to remove the tower was also opposed in France, where it was seen as a source of pride through its perceived association with Frankish crusaders , and as a symbol of the continuity between ancient Greek and modern French culture. Other critics of

1323-415: The Acropolis. This wall must have terminated at the first gateway, though opinions differ on the reconstruction of this earliest entrance. At some point in the archaic period a ramp replaced the bedrock pathway; the buttress wall on the north side of the existing stairway is from this period. This was followed shortly after Marathon by a programme of renovation on the Acropolis including the replacement of

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1386-510: The German businessman Heinrich Schliemann , the tower was demolished, to widespread criticism outside Greece. The name Frankish Tower reflects the presumed association between the tower and the medieval Frankish rulers who held power in Athens between 1205 and 1458. It has also been known as the "Venetian Tower", reflecting an erroneous belief that it was constructed during the Venetian occupation of Athens in 1687–1688. Under Ottoman rule,

1449-542: The Greek character of the shining face of the Acropolis, pure and unsullied by anything foreign". Propylaia (Acropolis of Athens) The Propylaia ( Greek : Προπύλαια ; lit.   ' Gates ' ) is the classical Greek Doric building complex that functioned as the monumental ceremonial gateway to the Acropolis of Athens . Built between 437 and 432 BC as a part of the Periklean Building Program, it

1512-409: The Greek press, the architect and academic Lysandros Kaftanzoglou compared the tower, which he considered of Turkish origin and called "barbarian", with "the droppings of birds of prey". Kaftanzoglou's later work repairing some of the Acropolis's retaining walls, in which he boasted that "no deviation from the ancient line was effected nor use of alien material", has been described as a manifestation of

1575-413: The Greek revolutionary Odysseas (Odysseus) Androutsos , who was imprisoned there in 1825. It is also occasionally referred to as the " Tuscan Tower". The tower was situated on the western corner of the Acropolis of Athens , next to the Propylaia . There was probably no access between the two buildings, as paintings and photographs from the nineteenth century show the tower's entrance above ground, on

1638-725: The King of Prussia, the Gate inaugurated the Greek Revival in Germany even though the edifice deviated notably from the canonical Doric form; its frieze ends with a half-metope and its columns have bases. 37°58′18.1″N 23°43′30.4″E  /  37.971694°N 23.725111°E  / 37.971694; 23.725111 De la Roche The de la Roche family was a French noble family named for La Roche-sur-l'Ognon in Burgundy, France that founded

1701-548: The Ottoman authorities as hostages, of whom nine were executed during the 1821–1822 siege of the Acropolis by the Greek rebels and three managed to escape. The tower was heightened between 1821 and 1826 to provide greater visibility to those using it as an observation post. In 1825, following his capture by the Greeks after his defection to the Ottomans, the revolutionary Odysseas Androutsos

1764-411: The cause of much speculation. They include practical considerations of the site, religious objections to the displacement of the adjoining shrines, and cost. Whatever the reason it is clear that the project was abandoned in an unfinished state in 432 with the lifting bosses remaining and the surface of the ashlar blocks left undressed. Alterations to the Propylaia in the classical period were slight,

1827-472: The central plain of Attica and the surrounding mountains. The north side of the tower had a small, square turret that projected from the wall, atop which "beacon-fires could be kindled which would be visible from Acrocorinth " in the Peloponnese . During the Ottoman period, this turret hosted two small cannons which could be used to signal an alarm. Sketches from the late seventeenth century on also show that

1890-506: The chariot race at Olympia and Nemea. Also, a painting depicting Diomedes and Odysseus taking the Palladion from Troy , and the painting depicting Achilles on Skyros, painted by Polygnotos around 450 BC. On the basis of these references, modern writers have frequently called the building the Pinakotheke, but there is no ancient authority for that epithet and no reason to believe the building

1953-456: The citadel. Beyond this is the archaic ramp leading to the zig-zag Mnesiklean ramp that remains today. Immediately ahead is the U-shaped structure of the central hall and eastward wings. The central hall is a hexastyle Doric pronaos whose central intercolumniation is spaced one triglyph and one metope wider than the others. This central pathway, which leads through to the plateau, passes under

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2016-497: The classicising ideology behind the demolition of the Frankish Tower, and much of the subsequent restoration work on the Acropolis throughout the nineteenth century. In the summer of 1874, the German archaeologist and businessman Heinrich Schliemann visited Athens. He had been trying for a number of years to secure a permit to excavate in Greece, first unsuccessfully petitioning for the site of Olympia and later for that of Mycenae . On 29 June [ O.S. 17 June], he proposed to

2079-461: The columns and curvature of the architrave. However, the stylobate had no curvature. Some of its parts also shared the proportions with the Parthenon. For instance, the general ratio used was 3:7, very similar to the ratio of 4:9 used for the Parthenon. The building features no decorative or architectural sculpture; all metopes and pediments were left empty and there were no akroteria . Nonetheless,

2142-430: The construction of the final building it has been possible to reconstruct the development of the building plans during its construction. It was the practice of Greek builders to prepare for the bonding of joining walls, roof timber and other features in advance of the following phase of construction. From the socket for the roof beam and the spur walls on the north and south flanks of the central hall it can be discerned that

2205-793: The crusader castles of the Levant by building the Rizokastro Wall , fortifying the Klepsydra , removing the entrance through the Beulé Gate , building the protective enclosure in front of the gate to the west of the south-west corner of the Nike Tower (now the only remaining entrance to the Acropolis) and also building the bastion between the Nike bastion and the Agrippa pedestal. The Propylaia then served as Ducal Palace to

2268-414: The demolition as "paltry" and as "wanton destruction". The historian of Frankish Greece, William Miller , later called it "an act of vandalism unworthy of any people imbued with a sense of the continuity of history" and "pedantic barbarism". Kaftantzoglou and his colleague Stefanos Koumanoudis , however, writing on behalf of the Archaeological Society of Athens, defended the demolition as "the restoration of

2331-489: The eponymous gates. The ceilings were supported by marble beams (about 6 m long) and the innermost squares of the coffers (Doric and Ionic coffers were both used) were decorated either with golden stars on a blue field with a bright green margin or an arrangement of palmettes . The roofs were covered with Pentelic marble tiles. The building had some of the optical refinements of the Parthenon: inward inclination and entasis of

2394-533: The four walls of the room has become the consensus view, and the idea has been developed further to explain the intended function of the four subsidiary halls of the Propylaia in the original plan as banqueting facilities for the city’s high officials after the sacrifices at the Panathenaic festival. Though this argument remains speculative. Despite being unfinished the Propylaia was admired in its own time. Demosthenes in his speech Against Androtion 23.13 describes

2457-481: The gateway with a ceremonial entrance, usually referred to as the Older Propylon, and the refurbishment of the forecourt in front of it. At this time, a section of the western Bronze Age wall, south of the gateway, received a marble lining on its western face and an integrated base at the northern extent for a perirrhanterion , or lustral basin. Bundgaard identified several remnants of this propylon and postulated

2520-539: The most significant being the construction of a monumental stairway in pentelic marble built in the reign of Claudius , probably 42 AD, and arranged as a straight flight of steps. This included a central inclined plane along which the sacrificial animals could be led, also a small dog-leg stairway on the Nike bastion that led to the Temple of Athena Nike. This project was supervised by the Athenian Tib. Claudius Novius, and

2583-482: The north-south halls. Of these only the central hall, the north-east hall (the Pinakotheke) and a truncated version of the south-east hall reached completion. Furthermore, it is evident from the adaption of the stylobate that a stepped platform was added to the interior of the central hall such that the western-most tympanum and roof were raised above the rest of the building. The reasons for these alterations have been

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2646-416: The original plan was for a much larger building than its final form. Mnesikles had planned a gatehouse composed of five halls: a central hall that would be the processional route to the Acropolis, two perpendicular flanking halls – north and south of the central hall – that would have spanned the whole width of the western end of the plateau, and two further, eastward projecting halls that were at 90 degrees to

2709-401: The plan to remove the tower, such as the traveller and novelist Elliot Warburton , considered that the tower had aesthetic value and had become part of the well-known skyline of the Acropolis. The archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis was an early advocate of demolition, while foreign visitors labelled the tower a "barbarous sentinel" and complained that it interrupted the view of the Parthenon. In

2772-514: The plateau lies between what is now the bastion of the Temple of Athena Nike and the terrace of the Agrippa Monument . In Mycenaean times the bastion (also referred to as the pyrgos or tower) was encased in a cyclopean wall , and amongst the few Mycenaean structures left in the archaeological record is a substantial wall on the terrace of the bastion that was part of the system of fortifications of

2835-559: The ruler's residence in the north wing. Under the Tourkokratia the Propylaia served both as a powder magazine and battery emplacement and suffered significant damage as a result. Only after the evacuation of the Turkish garrison could excavation and restoration work begin. From 1834 onwards the Medieval and Turkish additions to the Propylaia were demolished. By 1875 the Frankish Tower built on

2898-463: The second floor of the eastern face, some 6 metres (20 ft) above the architrave of the Propylaia . Literary sources attest that the door was accessible by means of an external wooden staircase. Some photographs also show a ground entrance on the western side, which means that the lower portion of the tower was probably separate from the upper floors, and used as a prison or storage room. The tower

2961-520: The south of the entrance. In the east precinct, the bronze statue of Diotrephes, an Athenian general killed in combat in Boeotia during the Peloponnesian War , stood behind the second column from the south. The statue of Aphrodite made by Kalamis and dedicated by Kallias stood behind the second column from the north. The Leaina (an Archaic bronze lioness) stood near the north wall. A votive column carrying

3024-408: The south wing of the Propylaia was demolished, this marked the end of the clearing of the site of its post-classical accretions. The second major anastylosis since the early work of Pittakis and Rangavis was undertaken by engineer Nikolaos Balanos in 1909-1917. The Propylaia is approached from the west by means of the Beulé Gate, which as noted was a late Roman addition to the fortification of

3087-419: The spolia and overbuilding on the structure. Subsequent studies include Bohn's fundamental work Die Propyläen der Akropolis zu Athen 1882 which summarized the knowledge of the building prior to the archaeological discoveries of 1885-1890; Bundgaard's Mnesicles: A Greek Architect at Work 1957, that examined the building's implications for planning practice; Dinsmoor Jr., The Propylaia I: The Predecessors 1980,

3150-423: The tower "might equally be ascribed" to the first dynasty of Frankish dukes of Athens, the 13th-century de la Roche family, who also had a residence on the site, of which no details are known. In the nineteenth century, the classicist John Pentland Mahaffy unsuccessfully tried to argue that the tower dated to the occupation of Athens by the Venetian commander Francesco Morosini between 1687 and 1688; his theory

3213-454: The tower came to be known as Goulas or Koulas ( Γουλάς/Κουλάς ), from the Turkish kule , meaning 'tower'. In the seventeenth century, the French doctor and archaeologist Jacob Spon recorded that the tower was popularly known as the "Arsenal of Lycurgus " and falsely believed to date to the fourth century BCE. After 1825, the tower was sometimes known as "Odysseus's Tower", after

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3276-535: The tower was once crenellated . The date of the tower's construction is unclear, and following its demolition now impossible to reconstruct with any certainty. Construction is usually ascribed to the Acciaioli family, who ruled the Duchy of Athens between 1388 and its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1458, since it was they who converted the Propylaia complex into a palace. However, according to medievalist Peter Lock,

3339-402: The victors of Salamis as "the men who from the spoils of the barbarians built the Parthenon and Propylaia, and decorated the other temples, things in which we all take a natural pride". This revealing passage not only equates the Parthenon and gatehouse in significance but associates them with the heroic past. His political rival Aeschines also made laudatory reference to the Propylaia when on

3402-504: Was a Roman Neo-Attic copy of the Central Hall at Athens from the late second century AD, probably instigated by Hadrian . This was framed by two memorial arches in what was possibly a reference to the wings of the original building. The latter, while an inexact copy, is clearly informed by the Athenian original likely drawing on Le Roy’s work, then the only reference source before the publication of The Antiquities of Athens . Commissioned by

3465-411: Was built of stone from the quarries of Penteli and Piraeus , making heavy use of material from the ancient buildings of the Acropolis. It was square in shape, 28.5 feet (8.7 m) long and 25.5 feet (7.8 m) wide, and its walls had a thickness of 5.75 feet (1.75 m) at their base. With a height of 85 feet (26 m), its top, accessible through a wooden staircase, held a commanding view over

3528-609: Was completed on 2 October [ O.S. 20 September]. The archaeological historian Fani Mallouchou-Tufano has suggested that the Great Eastern Crisis of 1875, in which nationalist rebellions had arisen in parts of the Balkans still under Ottoman rule, played a role in encouraging Greeks to see the removal of the post-classical structure as a means of reinforcing their "national confidence and certainty." The demolition eventually cost Schliemann £465 (equivalent to £47,938 in 2019), and

3591-487: Was delighted" with the prospect, except for the thousands of owls that lived in the tower. Schliemann was also granted the right to publish any inscriptions found during the demolition, though none eventually materialised. Schliemann proposed that the work would be carried out by the Archaeological Society of Athens and directed by the sculptor Napoleone Martinelli , one of its members. Panagiotis Efstratiadis ,

3654-540: Was disproven by the existence of engravings from the occupation, which showed that the tower predated it. The tower may be the inspiration for the " grete tour " in the palace of the Duke of Athens, where Palamon is imprisoned in Chaucer 's The Knight's Tale . Under Ottoman rule, the tower was used as a salt store and a prison. When the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, twelve Athenian notables were imprisoned here by

3717-500: Was imprisoned at the tower, tortured and killed. His body was found at the foot of the tower on 17 June [ O.S. 5 June]. Observers reported seeing a rope hanging down from the tower's window, supposedly used by Androutsos during a failed escape attempt, until 1840. By the 1870s, the tower was home to hundreds of owls. After the Greek War of Independence, arguments for the tower's demolition came from archaeologists, who believed that

3780-501: Was intended to be a picture gallery. One particular problem posed by the northwest wing has been to explain the asymmetric placement of the doorway and windows in the front wall behind the colonnade. It was John Travlos who first observed that in the placement of its door the chamber resembled Greek banqueting rooms, both the androns of private houses and the larger dining halls associated with sanctuaries. His demonstration that seventeen dining couches could be placed end to end around

3843-469: Was not in use at this point but the entrance to the Acropolis was still through the Propylaia. In the following centuries the only information on the building is from traveller's reports or the diaries of military officers. Attempts to survey the building begin in earnest in the late eighteenth century, notably J.-D. Le Roy 's Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Gréce 1758, and Stuart and Revett 's The Antiquities of Athens 1762-1804, but are hampered by

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3906-420: Was the last in a series of gatehouses built on the citadel. Its architect was Mnesikles , his only known building. It is evident from traces left on the extant building that the plan for the Propylaia evolved considerably during its construction, and that the project was ultimately abandoned in an unfinished state. The approach to the Acropolis is determined by its geography. The only easily accessible pathway to

3969-489: Was the last removal to date of a building from the Acropolis. The demolition drew considerable criticism at the time; the French poet Théophile Gautier called the tower an "integral part of the Athenian horizon". The British historian Edward Augustus Freeman wrote an anonymous article on 21 July [ O.S. 9 July] 1877, later published under his name in the Trieste -based Greek newspaper Klio , which condemned

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