minoan "palaces" and "Cyclopean" walls
Minoans. The oldest traces of monumental architecture in Europe are the "palaces" of the Minoan civilization on Crete. Built between 2700 and 1200 B.C., these buildings played an as yet little-known role in the cities of the Kaphti (Minoans). Recent studies tend to prove that the "palaces" of Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Galatas or Zakros had more agricultural (crop storage) and social (banqueting halls) functions.
Mycenaeans. In mainland Greece, the remains of "palaces" (megarons) can also be found in the sites of the Mycenaean civilization. The best preserved is Nestor's palace (1700-1200 BC, near Pylos in the Peloponnese). It seems to have served as a place of power. The sites of Mycenae and Tirynthe have preserved two other key architectural features of the Achaeans (the "Mycenaeans"): the tholoi (plural of tholos), large circular domed tombs set beneath a tumulus, and the "Cyclopean walls", imposing walls made of blocks weighing several tons, which ancient legends later attributed to the Cyclops.
Jewels of Antiquity
The cities that appeared from the 8th century B.C. onwards developed around an upper city (acropolis) that was easy to defend, with large civil buildings such as baths, the agora (marketplace) and bouleuterion (council chamber), and religious buildings (altar or temple).
Temples. The first polytheistic places of worship appeared in Evia, the Peloponnese and the Cyclades at the end of the Dark Ages, in the 9th-8th centuries BC. Greek builders were influenced by Mycenaean megarons (palaces). Often built of wood, the first temples left few traces. But in the Archaic period, from the 7th century BC onwards, stone buildings with double-sloped roofs covered in tiles and decorated with marble sculptures began to appear. The typical Greek temple is rectangular and peripteral (surrounded by a peristyle with one row of columns). The space is divided between the pronaos (entrance or vestibule), the naos (sanctuary containing the statue of the deity) and the opisthodome (rear part housing the treasury).
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders. The Classical period represents the golden age of Greek architecture, characterized by a quest for rationality and harmony. There were three main developments in temple architecture. The temple ofHera, in Olympia, and the Parthenon, in Athens, are the most emblematic examples of the Doric order, which developed from the mid-7th century B.C. onwards: the 4 to 8 m-high columns are fluted, and the simply ornamented capitals support an entablature with a frieze, including metopes, bas-relief panels. The Ionic order appeared from 560 BC onwards, distinguished by taller columns (up to 9 m) and more elaborate capitals adorned with two lateral volutes. The most famous Ionic temples are theErechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens and the Treasure of Sifnos in Delphi. Finally, the Corinthian order appeared in the5th century BC, with columns up to 10 m high and capitals richly decorated with sculptures imitating acanthus leaves. Examples include the Temple of Vassae, near Andritsena, and the Tholos of Gaia, in Delphi.
Urban planning. Cities were soon equipped with water supply systems. This can be seen as early as the late Neolithic period in the Cycladic town ofAkrotiri, on Santorini. Urban planning varied greatly, depending on geography, population size and so on. From the 5th century B.C. onwards, however, cities were organized into straight streets intersecting at right angles, according to the principles of the architect Hippodamos of Miletus (498-408 B.C.). The best-preserved "Hippodamian plan" is that ofOlynthe, in Chalkidiki. It served as a model for many cities, including Pella and Athens, and much later for Chicago and New York.
Byzantine treasures
The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, had the longest history in Europe: eleven centuries, from 395 to 1453. It laid the foundations of Christianity and Christian architecture.
Basilical plan. Just as the Byzantine Empire was the historical extension of the Roman Empire, Byzantine architecture remained faithful to the building principles of Greco-Roman antiquity. The first churches were called basilicas. They took on the rectangular shape of Roman basilicas, civil buildings used for justice and/or commerce. In Greece, the basilica of Panagia Achiropiètos (5th century) in Thessalonica best illustrates this first stage.
Cross-inscribed plan. Over time, Byzantine churches adopted a plan reminiscent of the Christian cross. But without the transept, i.e. without the lateral protrusions of Latin cross churches. The cross is inscribed in a square within a three-aisled building. The central nave houses the vertical axis of the cross. And in the center of the church, the side aisles house the horizontal axis of the cross. The intersection of the two axes is marked by columns supporting a dome. The church that best illustrates this evolution is Saint Sophia, in Constantinople/Istanbul: in the 6th century, it adopted an "intermediate plan", both basilical and cross-inscribed. This solution was also adopted for Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki in the 7th century, and for the remarkable monasteries of Daphni (Attica),Ossios Loukas (Boeotia) and Nea Moni (Chios) in the 11th and 11th centuries. The cross-inscribed plan then became widespread, as witnessed by Panagia Chalkeon in Thessalonica (11th century), Parigoritissa in Arta (13th century) and the formidable group of churches in Mystra (13th-15th centuries).
Narthex, naos, bema and iconostasis. These elements are typical of Byzantine churches. To the west, the vertical axis of the cross begins with the narthex, a "vestibule" that may itself be preceded by an exonarthex. The axis continues with the naos ("temple"), which forms the center of the church. This is where the cross-inscribed plan takes shape. The cross ends at the eastern end with the bêma, a term borrowed from the tribune of ancient orators. Generally an apse, the bêma is the most sacred part of the church. It is separated from the rest of the church by a partition on which the sacred icons are placed: the iconostasis. Behind the iconostasis, in the bêma, only the clergy preparing the divine liturgy (the Eucharist) may enter.
Brick, cloisonné fixtures and replastering. Like their Roman predecessors, Byzantine masons mainly used brick, both for churches and for civil buildings, such as the ramparts of Thessalonica. Bricks were sometimes skilfully arranged to form magnificent patterns, particularly on the exterior of churches. Empire masons also invented "cloisonné" walls: cut stone blocks framed with mortar and fine bricks (or flat tiles). This technique, which ensured greater resistance to shocks, particularly earthquakes, was later adopted by the Ottomans. Last but not least, the facades of certain buildings sometimes feature bas-reliefs from earlier buildings. These are replacements. Beautifully carved stones from a previous church or polytheistic temple can be chosen to embellish a building. This is particularly true of two superb 13th-century churches: the "Little Metropolis" in Mitropoleos Square, Athens, and Agia Triada, near Argos.
Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman heritage
Between 1204 and 1912, Greece was occupied by Franks, Venetians and Ottomans. They left behind a heritage that is, on the whole, poorly preserved.
Franks and Venetians. The temporary capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders and the Venetians in 1204 resulted in a Latin presence in Greece until the 18th-19th centuries on certain islands. The finest examples are the medieval town of Rhodes, occupied by the Hospitaller order from 1309 to 1523, and the old town of Corfu, which retains its magnificent Italian architecture from the Venetian period (1363-1797). The Venetians also built fortifications and pretty districts in Heraklion and Chania, Crete, as well as the impressive Palamidi fortress in Nafplio and the charming little port of Nafpakt. In the 13th century, the Villehardouin princes created a vast network of "French-style" castles across the Peloponnese, including Kalamata, Chlemoutsi (northwest of Olympia) and Mystra (quickly conquered by the Byzantines).
Ottomans. Although the Ottoman Empire was present everywhere (except Corfu) and often for a very long time (from 1347 to 1912 in Thrace, for example), its legacy is hardly visible today. Since the 19th century, most of the mosques have been abandoned, destroyed or converted into churches, museums, etc. In any case, they were of a very high standard. In any case, they were of a rather poor (so-called "provincial") architecture compared to the magnificent Islamic buildings of Constantinople/Istanbul. And most of Greece's mosques were in fact Byzantine churches converted into Muslim places of worship. With the exception of Thrace, where there is still a sizeable Muslim minority, few mosques have preserved their minarets intact. Of note, however, are the two minarets of the citadel at Ioannina, and the Roman Rotunda at Thessalonica. On the other hand, some Ottoman civil buildings have been very well preserved: the fortress of Pylos, the aqueduct and imaret of Kavala, the ancient baths of Thessalonica and Athens, the superb Jewish quarter of Veria..
From neoclassicism to all-concrete
After independence in 1829, Greece began to search for a new architectural identity.
Antiquity as a model. After the War of Independence (1821-1829), the small Kingdom of Greece was ruled by Othon I, a Bavarian nobleman imposed by the great powers. An architectural style inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity, but born in Germany in the 18th century, became widespread: neoclassicism. The first capital cities, Aegina and Nafplio, were covered with round-tiled houses, harmonious facades and often pastel tones. This style also dominated the new center of power, Athens (from 1834), with its beautiful villas and monumental buildings with pediments and colonnades, such as the Parliament (former royal palace) on Syntagma Square, the University (Panepistimiou Street) and the National Archaeological Museum.
Byzantium rediscovered. While the Bavarian and Danish kings of Greece sought to create a new national identity by invoking Antiquity, they largely denigrated the heritage of the Ottomans, as well as that of the Byzantines. It wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century that Byzantine art came to the attention of the authorities. The incorporation of Macedonia into Greece (1912), followed by the Great Fire of Thessalonica (1917), provided an opportunity to experiment with neo-Byzantine architecture in Aristotelous Square and Street, in the heart of the country's second-largest city: beautiful arcades, long galleries, Corinthian columns... This style, invented in England and Russia, would later spread, particularly to the construction of thousands of new churches.
Cycladic whiteness. In the 1930s, dictator Ioannis Metaxas understood Greece's potential as a tourist destination. But the country remained poor, and hygiene conditions deplorable. Metaxas invented the "Cycladic style" for both health and image reasons. White lime purifies homes. It also gave visual unity to islands that until then had had their own architecture inherited from the Ottoman period, when dry-stone houses had to blend into the landscape to escape the view of pirates. The other great Greek dictatorship of the 20th century, that of the colonels (1967-1974), made this Cycladic style compulsory. A veritable "white measles" spread to all the islands and mainland coastline, to the detriment of local traditions.
Concrete on the rise. To cope with the massive influx of refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s, followed by a very strong rural exodus, towns sought practical solutions: modernist and Bauhaus buildings soon replaced charming neoclassical houses. But the real solution, much decried, was polykatoikia: condominium ownership. In the absence of government bodies to finance large-scale housing projects, small landowners and small and medium-sized construction companies designed concrete buildings for all types of buyers: basements and first floors for craftsmen and modest families, intermediate floors for the middle classes and upper floors with large terraces (the "retirés") for the wealthiest. It was in this way, between the 1950s and the 1990s, that Greek cities took on their current appearance.
