Eyewitness Companions Architecture (Eyewitness Companion Guides) by Jonathan Glancey

Architecturejonathan glancey

EYEWITNESS companions

WORLDS GREATEST BUILDINGS HISTORY AND STYLEs ARCHITECTSwww.ebook3000.com

www.ebook3000.com

with contributions fromTHOMAS CUSSANS

DK PUBLISHING

JONATHAN GLANCEY

EYEWITNESS COMPANIONS

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INTRODUCTION 10

INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURE 14

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? 16

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ARCHITECTURE 24

FROM VILLAGE TO CITY 38

ANCIENT NEAR EAST 44

ANCIENT EGYPT 52

THE AMERICAS 64

CENTRAL & NORTH AMERICA 68

SOUTH AMERICA 76

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EDITORS Marek Walisiewicz,

Maddy King, Kati Dye, Jamie Dickson

ART EDITORS Paul Reid, Lloyd Tilbury, Darren Bland, Claire Oldman, Rebecca Johns

LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH, MELBOURNE, DELHI

Produced for Dorling Kindersley by

cobaltid

Mabel Chan Paula ReganElizabeth WarmanJohn GoldsmidDebra WolterLouise DickBryn WallsJonathan Metcalf

Adam Howard of Invisiblecities Andy Kay

Senior DesignerSenior Editor

Production ControllerDTP

Managing EditorManaging Art Editor

Art Director Publisher

3D Illustrations

3D Models

KEY TO SYMBOLS USED IN THIS BOOK

Approximate date building completed

Location of building

Architect/Client

Function of building

THE CLASSICAL WORLD 82

ANCIENT GREECE 88

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE 104

EARLY CHRISTIAN & BYZANTINE

ARCHITECTURE 122

INDIA & SOUTHEAST

ASIA 134

INDIAN ARCHITECTURE 140

SOUTHEAST ASIA 150

EAST ASIA 160

CHINA 164

JAPAN & KOREA 178

THE ISLAMIC WORLD 188

THE FIRST MOSQUES 194

PERSIA & MUGHAL INDIA 210

MEDIEVAL EUROPE 222

ROMANESQUE 228

GOTHIC 244

THE RENAISSANCE 270

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 276

RENAISSANCE BEYOND ITALY 290

BAROQUE & ROCOCO 304

BAROQUE 310

ROCOCO 330

CLASSICAL REVIVAL 340

NEO-CLASSICISM 344

NEO-CLASSICISM IN THE UNITED STATES 364

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 372

THE MACHINE AGE 378

GOTHIC REVIVAL 396

NOSTALGIA & WHIMSY 408

THE MODERN WORLD 424

MODERNISM 430

TRADITIONALISM 450

THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD 468

GLOSSARY 496INDEX 500

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 511

CONTENTS

10 ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is an enormous subject,plumbing the depths of ancienthistory while embracing the world.How could we ever have thought ofsqueezing its sky-piercing towers,mighty domes, and flying buttressesinto a book designed to fit neatly intoh db b i f b k k? W llhandbag, briefcase, or backpack? Well,we did, and we have done what wehope is our best to please as manyreaders as possible. Of course, therewill be those of you who will ask whywe have left out the temple of X orthe cac thhededraral of Y. Theere are verymamany thoousu ands of bb iuildldddiings wwororthth

celebrating in a guide to worldarchitecture, but even the world itselfcould not contain the books thatshould be written if they were all tohave their rightful place.

There is, though, a simple logic tothis book. We have tried to include, asf ibl b ildi th t I hfar as possible, buildings that I havevisited. This amounts to nine in ten.Those we have included that I havenot seen are there because it would beimpolite and improper to excludethem: these are often pivovovovotal buildingsin the story of architecture. Equq allyy,,ththerere e araree ththososee ththatat I I l lonongg to see. SSome

INTRODUCTION

11INTRODUCTION

PotPPotPotPotPotPoPotPotPotPotPPoPotPoo alaalaaaa PaPaPaPaPa P lacacacla ee, TibTibT etGreGreGGreGreGrererereeGG at aaa buiildildildlld ngngsngss may cy complettelydomdomdommmmdominainain te thetheheth lalaaandsn cappe oe r rubushoshoshoshouldlddu eers wiwiw th t ooothhers in incrocroc owwwwdeded d cityyyty st streereeeeets.

I am more than gratefulto have seen, such as theziggurats of ancientIraq, because it may bea long while yet beforeit is safe to travel thereagain. We have alsoincluded buildings that Icould not possibly havevisited because theywere destroyed longwere destroyed longago; these are designs ofsuch importance to thestory of architecture that it would havebeen wrong to ignore them.

As to dates, we have tried our bestto give those that correspond to theknown completion of a particularbuildidingng. ThT ese cannot always bewhhh lollly aaccccuru atee, n not only becausehih sttorrriciicicalala s ouurrcceses ddisisagagrer e with oneananana otototototottheheheheheh r,r,r,, bb bb b bbutututt a aa aaalslslslslsoo o beeecacause e ththere aretititititititititititititimmememmmmmmmmmmmmess s whwhw enenneneeen www wwe e e e sisisisimpmpmpmpm ly ddo o not t knk ow.

Names of architectsbecome apparent, andthen clear, from around1450 at the start of theRenaissance, when theworks of individualartists were celebrated.It is not that there are

lier records of architects, butno earlhese are few and far between.that th

know, though, the name of oneWe do very early architects: Imhotep.of the

signed pyramids and became aHe desThe words modesty and architectgod. Tarely gone together since.have rahave tried to include as muchWe world as possible. Even so,of the ildings of many countries arethe buig from this guide. This is, again,missing

e obvious reason that the bookfor thehave to be as big as a buildingwould

eeze them all in, but alsoto squese there are a number of otherbecausries, or regions, of the world thatcountrproduced a disproportionatehave pnt of the worlds best and mostamouncant architecture. There is verysignific

vernacular architecture here. little k this is a subject for a separateI think or a much bigger one. Thisguide,concentrates on buildings thatguide lf-conscious works of art.are sel

uildings in this book are listedBulustrated mostly as if they standand ill

dly alone. This is so that they canproudadily identified, described, andbe rearstood. Many, of course, are inunders and avenues among crowds andstreetsof other buildings. I rememberrows oooking for Gauds Casa Batllfirst logonlike apartment block ina dragelona. On a cloudy day, it seemedBarceall too comfortably into the flowto fit e tall buildings lining the citysof the

Divine detailVisiting a site enables anappreciation not just of itscontext, but of details such asthis dragons head at the Platformof Venus, Chichn Itz, Mexico.

12 ARCHITECTURE

Paseo de Gracia, despite its colorfuland unusual design. This, though,made me think more of the building,not less; it has, despite its eccentricities,good urban manners, unlike the Post-Modern architecture of the 1980sfound in Barcelona, as elsewhere.

Post-Modernism reminds me that I should mention that there are a fewepisodes in the history of architecturewhere I find myself totally out of tunewith a particular style. Architecturemight be a continuum and its history a book to treasure and borrow from,yet Po-Mo design, virulent worldwidein the 1980s, was a case of ripping up the pages of history books andplastering the torn fragments childishlyacross the steel and concrete frames ofotherwise nondescript buildings in thehope of eliciting a laugh from passers-by. A few of these buildings have beenincluded in these pages in order topresent a continuous record ofarchitectural development, eventhough I personally do not like them.

I hope this book will be justthe beginning of an adventure forthose setting out to discover theworld through its buildings and itsarchitectural history. It is a unendingjourney and might just be the start ofa lifetimes pleasure.

Masters of the modern ageLe Corbusier bestrode the built landscape ofthe 20th century with his inventive and poeticinterpretations of the Machine Age.

Shock of the newWere exemplars of Classicalarchitecture, in their time, asprovocative as modern masterpieces,such as Gauds Casa Batll (below)?))

INTRODUCTION 13


ne day, travelers will be able to return to Iraq and see for

themselves the great ziggurat at Ur.This daunting ancient monument is,on one level, no more and no less thanan immense pile of sun-baked bricks,piled in stepped layers high into thedesert sky. But what fine bricks!andwhat a spirited design.

The ziggurat at Ur was not justa building. It was not made for shelteror to store grain. It was built as anartwork, as the greatest artefacthumans could shape at the time tohonor their gods and to invite thosedivinities down the great brick stepsof their monument to their city ofUr. The ziggurat was a giant stairwayto Heaven and back down to earth,connecting humankind to the godsand, hopefully, making the earth, andthe city of Ur, fruitful. The zigguratof Ur is also important in our storybecause it shows us how architecturewas always more than a functional

Architecture began, said the German architect Ludwig Mies van derRohe, when two bricks were put together well. This might sound too easy to be true, yet Mies was right. What he meant was thatarchitecture is the self-conscious act of building: of building not justwith common sense, but with artistry.

BLUEPRINT FOR THE NORTH WING OF THE US CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.,DESIGNED IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY BY BENJAMIN HENRY LATROBE.

tool: it was a form of celebration ofhuman artistry and of the imagination,and a way of formalizing, by shapingin brick (and, later and elsewhere, instone, marble, concrete, iron, steel,zinc, and titanium), the rituals ofurban life.

IN THE BEGINNINGPeople first came together to createcities some seven thousand years ago,and possibly even earlier, in the FertileCrescentthe crescent-shaped regionthat extends from the eastern shore ofthe Mediterranean Sea to the PersianGulf. The oldest monumental cities we know of, although there will alwaysbe other claims and perhaps newdiscoveries, are in what is southernIraq today. Here, people settled, andby that simple act they were able tocreate surpluses of food and to storethese over the winter monthsthus,they had time to create rituals andfestivals. They created gods, too, and

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

18 INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURE

put kings in power to protect themput kings in power to protect them.And so there was a need for publicplaces, for temples, palaces, andlookout towers. Mud huts would never do for gods, priests, soldiers, and kingsand so two, and thenmany millions, of bricks were puttogether on their behalf, andarchitecture emerged. Civilization,cities, and architecture rose together.

Mies van der Rohe (18861969), aModern architect with a passion forand knowledge ofancient culture,

also defined architecture as the will ofalso defined architecture as the will ofthe epoch translated into space.Anyone looking at a Greek temple,Gothic cathedral, New York skyscraper,or Nazi stadium will know exactly whatMies meant. His was one way ofsaying that people get the architecturethey deserve, or the architecture theywill into being, in brick and stone. Anarchitectural interpretation of historyis, in fact, as good as any other. Byunderstanding architecture from acrossthe ages and around the world, the

Ziggurat at UrAncient monumentsreaching skyward werebuilt to honor, please,and appease gods wholived, literally, on ahigher plane. Thesebuildings were thereforefundamentally necessaryand functional in away we may find hard to understand today.

19

stories of different peoples and regimescan be read and, to a greater or lesserdegree, understood. We understand notjust their culture, as in the arts, butsomething of their politics and theirpolitical economy, too.

FORM AND FUNCTIONFrom two bricks put together well tomonuments that tracked the stars andaligned humanity with the heavens,architecture had great and even otherarchitecture had great and even other-worldly ambitions from the very start.One of its purposes, from the smallestwell-put-together building to thehighest skyscraper, is to lift the humanspirit. In architecture we find a way of celebrating our humanity and ofraising ourselves above the concerns of the matter-of-fact, the here andnow. Not exclusively, of course.Architecture might be the self-conscious act of building artistically,and hopefully well, but it is also about

shelter. One of the marked differencesbetween architecture and the fine artsis that buildings have very particularfunctions to perform. Few artworks,with the exception of MarcelDuchamps Fountain (1917), needlavatories. Or, for that matter, gutters,drainpipes, wiring, gas, electricity,heating, lighting, ventilation, windows,and air-conditioning. On this level,architecture is a machine.

LET THERE BE LIGHTAnother great modern architect, Le Corbusier (18871965), definedarchitecture as the masterly, correct,and magnificent play of massesbrought together in light. Here isa new dimension: to Miess well-put-together bricks and will of the

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE?

Ancient architecture of MesopotamiaFrom the lonely desert ruins we see today, weattempt to extrapolate and interpret the color,vibrancy, and daily life of ancient societies.


epoch, we add the play of light. Allgreat architects have been masters oflight. Stand in front of a Greek templeand watch how its moods change andits space is animated by different playsof light as the sun moves around itover the course of a day. Sit quietly in Le Corbusiers pilgrimage chapelat Ronchamp (see above, right) and feelthe light directed so knowingly, andcarefully, through slits and chutes,windows and shafts: the ever-changinglight not only animates and celebratesthe architecture, but sends gentleshivers down the spine of the observer.

The moon and the stars playedequally important roles in the artistryand planning of ancient temples andof Gothic cathedrals. Imagine the playof moonlight, or of the stars, on thesheer and polished surfaces of theGreat Pyramid of Khufu. Their lightwould have set up a celestial dancein tune with the rhythms of thearchitecture they played upon. As fortheir planning, the design of Egyptianpyramids and Gothic cathedrals wasaligned with stars and constellations.

RISE OF THE MACHINEImmediately after the senselessslaughter of World War I, which killedmore than 8.5 million soldiers and

millions of civilians, an increasingnumber of European architects beganto think of how they could expresstheir desire to get away from the oldregimes and what they saw as theoverly complex, messy, and decadentway of life that had led to the war.

Architecture, so they decided,should be as clean, white, and efficientas the very best new sanatorium, asbeautifully functional as the whiteocean liners that took people onhealth-giving voyages away from thegrime of European cities. This wasthe birth of the Modernist Movement,a time when many of the brightestarchitects believed they could createan architecture that was free of theweight of history and as smoothlyworking as a well-oiled machine. A house, in the famous words of LeCorbusier, might be a machine habitera machine for living in.

And, yet, Le Corbusier, Mies vander Rohe, and the other brave newmoderns were never free of history. In fact, these two particular architectsrooted their work in ancient historyeven as they thought as far ahead asthey were able. As for architects whoreally did think they could turnbuildings into pure machines for living,designing gigantic concrete housing


estates, for example, they were to makeall too many heartbreaking mistakeswith other peoples lives. Architecturematters. Architecture needs a soul.Architecture is a continuumconnecting us back throughskyscrapers and cathedrals topedimented temples and zigguratsmade of well-put-together bricks.

There have been, of course,many new inventions anddiscoveries that have at variousjunctures through history allowedand encouraged architecture tomove in sudden leaps andbounds. The pointed arch ledto the high vaulting ofGothic cathedrals and to ageneration of magicalbuildings that, for all theirgreat scale and mass, seemedlike weightless caskets ofcolored glass. The elevatoror lift (Elisha Otis, 1853),combined with the inventionof steel (Henry Bessemer,

1856), gave us the skylines of NewYork and Chicago. Now buildingscould rise almost impossibly high intothe sky, and, certainly, from theinvention of the first electric elevators(Werner von Siemens, 1880), it wasconsummately easy to get to the top ofthem and back down to the ground.

THE MODERN FREE-FOR-ALLAt the end of the 20th century,

computers and new materialsallowed architects to play with formsmore than ever before. Computerscould tell architects exactly howmuch an extra curve here, orfashionable projection there, wouldcost their clients. Computers in thedesign studio could communicatewith their peers in machine shopswhere building materials could be cut to measure to fit exactly

into place on building sites.The computer has proved to be a liberating tool for some

architects, one toy too manyfor others.

Architecture is notjust about architects. It is also about those whocommission them. Thestory of architecture is thestory of, among others,priests, kings, queens,emperors, captains ofindustry, queens ofcommerce, housebuilders,enlightened patrons, andwrong-headed and evendemonic politicians. This is partly what Miesmeant when he definedarchitecture as the will

Harnessing lightCompare the play of light inside a traditionalcathedral, such as Morelia, Mexico (far left), andthe chapel at Ronchamp (left) by Le Corbusier.In the first, the eye is drawn inexorably upward;in the second, it is the human context of the actof worship that is illuminated.

Breaking new groundWith the coming of the industrial age, architecture once again reached for the sky, as nations andcities competed to build the talleststructures ever seen. The EmpireState Building, New York (right),took the record in 1931.


of the epoch translated into space.Many of the buildings we havelearned to admire, or even adoreintuitively, have been the playthings ofmonstrous tyrants, most of whomhave been forgotten. They are lucky,in a way: the great art theycommissioned has outgunned theirmurderous intent. Where once therewas savagery and pain, now we seebeauty and repose.

Equally, many of the finest worksof architecture are modest creations.Sir Christopher Wren (16321723)might be remembered first andforemost by those looking around St. Pauls Cathedral, yetalthough the dome of this great church is oneof the worlds finestit is the lovelynecklace of small parish churchesWren rebuilt around St. Pauls in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London (1666) that shows him at his sensitive best.

Architecture is about proportion,too. Inside his church of St. StephenWalbrook, Wren created a scaled-down model of the dome he wantedto build for his rejected Greek cross

design for St. Pauls; to find thisminiature magnificence behind thedoor of what appears to be, from thestreet, a tiny ragstone parish church is not just a delight, but one of thereasons why anyone might learn tolove architecture.

BACK TO THE FUTUREThe story of architecture is one ofremarkable human endeavor, one of the means through which we try to create order and make sense of ourendlessly intriguing, yet messy world.We all live and work in buildings.From the humblest to the mostsublime, there is no reason why any of these should be less than inspiringeven in small ways: the turn of a stair;the way sunlight falls throughwindows in mesmerizing patterns onfloors; materials cool to the touch inthe heat of summer; the rhythm ofan arcade; the pregnant quality of adome. At its best, architecture shouldlift our spirits, while serving as guideto our ambitions, vanities, our needs,our gods, and our dreams.

Relic of historyThe Lutine bell sits in the cathedral-like atriumin the Lloyds of London building (right), cradled(or, it could be said, dwarfed) by this moderntemple of commerce.

Evolution and revolutionBoth organic in form and futuristic in aspectBoth organic in form and futuristic in aspect,the Guggenheim Museum in New York (below)redefined space and the way we use it.


n 2002, I was privileged to beable to travel the length and

breadth of Iraq. This was at the tailend of the dictatorship of SaddamHusseina brutal ruler who sawhimself as a successor to the verykings of ancient Mesopotamia whoraised those first monuments in brickand, in so doing, created architectureand cities. The development of walledvillages and fortified towns was takingplace elsewhere in the world at muchthe same timeJericho is one of theworlds earliest settlements with anypretensions to architectureyet in whatwas once Mesopotamia, we can besure that architecture existed, becausewe can see it with our eyes, touch itwith our hands. And what we touch is brickenduring, sun-baked brick.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE FIRST CITYI spent several hours one extremelyhot morning on my trip to Iraq in theoffice of the Governor of Nasiriyah.

The beginning of brickmaking and the birth of architecture belongtogether. The first great works of architecture we know ofthe firstattempts at building beyond necessity, of building to express desires,beliefs, goals, and cultureswere made of brick. In fact, the very firststructures of any kind that we have evidence of today were brick-built.

GLASS-AND-STEEL ROOF OF THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II GREAT COURT AT THEBRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, 2000, DESIGNED BY FOSTER AND PARTNERS.

What I wanted was permission totravel to Eridu, which might well bethe worlds first city. The Governorspress attach suggested that I mightinstead like to see the great ziggurat of Ur just a few miles away. Ofcourse, I was tempted. This is one of the greatest examples of ancientarchitecture, even though heavilyrestored by Saddam. But still, Eridu it had to be. The very thought of itwas haunting. Could this really be theworlds first city? Since 1991, it hadbeen cut off from the rest of Iraq, the rest of the world, because it was atthe heart of local military operations.The shell-holed tracks leading to itwere strewn with Gulf War detritus:unexploded bombs, rockets, hundredsof tons of depleted uranium USmunitions left lying in the desert.Nevertheless, I wanted to go there.

With an armed escort, I finally gotto Eridu. The temperature was exactly122F (50C). All around us was

IIIIIIIIIIII


shimmering sand. Here, though, I was able to brush away some of theburning sand and touch the bricks ofwhat was once the ziggurat of Eridu,even though it now looks like a moundof earth and sand. Between thesetopmost bricks and the base of theziggurat were at least 16 differentlayers of temple, the first dating backto around 5,000BCE. This is wherearchitecture was born, when this landwas rich in date palms and freshwater, when human settlement was a new venture. At the heart of thisziggurat, its structural core, werebricks, carefully put together.

The history of Eridu was onlypieced together by Iraqi archaeologistsand experts from the British Museumpbetween 1946 and 1949. There maywewellll b be totheherr anancicienentt cicititieses a andnd

temples to be discovered elsewhere,but this is as good a beginning forcivilization as any. There were otherbuilding materials at the timeelsewhere in the world that mighthave shaped architecture, but not herebetween the Tigris and Euphratesrivers, where the only possible way tobuild on a large scale was with brick.Happily, this building block of theearliest architecture was not justimmediately available, but it wasstrong and enduring. Where timberrots, steel corrodes, and concretecracks, brick seems to endure as ifforever. It is also a warm material, and because it was shaped and laid byhuman hands, it helped raise buildingsthat were essentially human, too.y ,

Brick has never really gone out ofdate or fashion, and iit t hahass bebeenen u usesedd

M dMudMud b-br-brickickickck cici cityty,y, Sh Sh Shibibaib m,m, YemYemennnThiThiTh s as a astostostonisnisn hinhing 1g 1g 6th6th-cc-centutun uryyry y citcitcity oy oy oy fffmudmudddmud brrbr-b-b-bri kickickick blblbl blockockkockocko ststtss hhe e e e e e MMaMaMaM nhahhattatattt n ooffthe deserttis isisis stitititistillllll ll ll iininhinhinhinhhhabiabiaaa ttedted tottodayaydaydayayy.

27

to shape some of the most beautifulbuildings in the world. And some of the most influential and radical,too: even Le Corbusier, the greatproponent of concrete architecture in the 1920s, turned to brick again in the 1950s. Brick has moved withthe times and, from the 19th century,was made increasingly throughindustrial processes. Today, it is usedby architects mostly for cladding newbuildings, not as a structural material.Yet there are few greater pleasures, ifyou love buildings, than coming acrossone crafted in warm, handmade brick. The first building block ofarchitecture mayy yet be the last.

BUILDING WITH TIMBERElsewhere in thee world, where therewere woods andd forests, timberwas a key buildinng material.Timber is strongg, warm, andbeautiful, but ulttimately it rotsor dries out and cracks. Orcatches fire. It iss hard to finda timber buildinng, an originaltimber building, much over750 or, at the most, 1,000years old. One ccan argueeethat, on the whoole,there is no reasoon formost buildings toolast so long. Or,equally, one canfall into theJapanese way

of thinking and reason that a buildingought to be ritually reconstructedevery so many years, so that it isalways perfect and not allowed toshow signs of decay. Throughout thisbook you will find timber buildings ofextraordinary daring and refinementand examples of timber constructionthat are quite breathtaking. I stilllook up at the great lantern of ElyCathedral in Cambridgeshire withawe. Supported by the sawn trunks ofeight mighty oak trees, each weighing10 tons, the timber lantern itselfweighs 200 tons and yet seems to befloating effortlessly above the crossing

l. For theof the medieval cathedralf Williamrecord, it is the work ofoyalHurley, Edward IIIs royears tocarpenter. It took 14 y

craft and dates from ca.c 1342.uildingThe very last buok, theshown in this booaouJeJ an Marie Tjiba

CuC ltural Center,e FrenchNoNoumea, in thewcoolony of News madeCaCaCaCCaCaCCCCCCaCaCCCCaCalelll donia, is

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ARCHITECTURE

Unchanging sceneIn many parts of theworld, mud bricks arestill very much in use:here in modern-dayTunisia, a brickmakershapes them from clayand water and lays themout to dry. Afterwardthey will be baked in thekilns in the background.

phTTTiTimiimmmmTTTimTT ber triumpestedInInnn In thickly fored Sweden,NNorNNoN way andurches builtstave chuf woodaseeentirely o

al, Norwayatatat aa Hedda(le(le(le(l(( ft) made a m)

stinctivevvevervvvv y distribution contmedievalto mchitecture.arc


of wood, too. Timber remains a fine,material to build with, although thefear of fire is always present.

THEHETHE USUS USE OE OE OF SF SF STONTONTONEEEStone was readily y available in otherparts of the world.d FFrom EEgypt,tthrough Greece and Rome, we seehow it was used in iincn rereasasininglglg yyy

adventurous ways. The Egyptianstended to use stone in great blocksthat could be brought to building siteson rollers. The Greeks shaped theirstones more subtly but still treatedthem as a stiffly noble material lackingin flexibility. Greek temples are theapotheosis of trabeatedor post-and-lintelconstruction, whereby posts (or, in the case of Greek temples,columns) are set into the ground andthen set over with beams (in their caseentablatures). The Greeks made a great art of this simple form ofconstruction, which, it has beenargued by theorists and historiansg yfrom the 18th century, was developedfrom timber buildings. Perhaps it was.

ItIt was t thhe R Romans, t thhoughh, whhodededemomomonsnsnstrtrtratatatededed tt thehehe pp plalalastststicicic pp prororopepepertrtrtieieiesss off stone. This is not to suggg est thatststono e can bbe sququeeeezezed d lilikeke d dououghgh o orrshaped like putty, bbut it does possess aa dyddynanamimicc ququalalitityy ifif onone e knknowows s hohoww

New ways with woodThe J. M. Tjibaou Cultural Center, the work of RenzoPiano, evokes the traditional huts of the indigenouspeople of the island of New Caledonia.

Roman archesThe Roman aqqueduct at Segovg ia,, in Sppain (be( low)),,bribrinngs wawaterter 2 2,950950 ftft (89(899 m)9 m) fr froom thethe Fr Froo RivRiver toto thethe ci cityty. Bu Builtilt in in th the re reigeign on of tf thehe empemperoeror Tr Trajrajanan, it it is one of the best-preserved examplep s of RRomaomannprproviovincincialal arccarchithitectecture.

The key buildings of the Acropolis date fromPericles Golden Age of Athens, from 460to 430 BCE. It is said that, in a popular move,Pericles used not slaves but unemployedAthenians as workers, thus ensuring allAthenian families had food on their tables.Complex scaffolds and pulleys aided the workof lifting the huge stone blocks into place.

BUIBUILDILDINGNG THETHE AC ACROPROPOLIOLISSto lay stones in a particular orderto achieve unexpected and, as seen in this book, spectacular results.Although the arch was known to theGreeks, it was the Romans who madeit their trademark. Without the arch,there would be no Colosseum, no bridges across high rivers, noaqueducts. By extension, an archcould become a barrel vault to cover a room. Where two barrel vaultsintersected they formed a groin vault,as seen in many Roman basilicas. Ifan arch is stretched and rotated, itbecomes the base of a dome.

But it was the European Gothicpmasters who made stone one of themost exciting of all building materials.GGeneeraratition b by generatition, ambibititiousclclclieieientntntsss, ii imamamagigiginananatititiveveve aa arcrcrchihihitetetectctctsss, aa andndndsupep rblyy talented craftsmen used thesusupppporort t gagainineded b by y adaddidingng f flylyininggbuttresses to stretch their ar hches higi hheranand dd ththeiieir r vavaulultsts iintto o evvere mmororee

29THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ARCHITECTURE

Gothic stoneworkEven after its rebuilding with sturdier supports, thevaulting of Beauvais cathedral still powerfullycommunicates the soaring ambition of its creators.

complex patterns of mutuallysupporting groinsso much so thatthe later medieval churches were littlemore than caskets of glass framed bywhat appeared to be slivers of stone.

Ambition did, however, prove thelimitation of stone technology. In 1284,the vaulting of the choir of Beauvaiscathedral, in France, collapsed. Theaim of its founder, Bishop Guillaumede Grez, had been to build the tallestcathedral in Europe. To do so requiredthe vault to be raised by 16 ft (5 m).

Greeks have thought such constructionpossible? Probably not, although itshould be said that they were contentwith what they wanted to achieve.They let their mountainous landscapeclimb toward Heaven, while on the flatplains of Europe, ambitious clericsbuilt holy mountains in sensationalleaps and bounds of adventurous stone.

ADDING CONCRETE TO THE MIXRoman builders had another trick uptheir togas: concrete. By mixing limeand clay, or pozzolana (a volcanic dust),with water they produced a cementthat when mixed with aggregatestones, pebbles, sand, gravel, rubbleformed concrete, a strong, plastic,easily worked, fireproof material thatcould be used to span previouslyinconceivable spaces, such as that over the voluminous drum of thePantheon in Rome.

The cores of very many otherRoman engineering structures andbuildings were also concrete; but, byand large, this truly empire-buildingmaterial vanished with the Romans.Modern concrete was invented byJohn Smeaton in England in ca. 1756,although it was to be some whilebefore concrete was seen as a thing ofbeauty. Only in the 20th century wasit truly admired. Even then, architectsdid their best to make concrete assmooth as possible, so that, especiallywhen polished, it resembled stone.Raw concrete was made fashionableby Le Corbusier in the 1950s andtoday remains the choice corematerial of many of the worldsbuildings, whether artistic or not.

In the meantime, reinforcedconcrete had been invented by aFrench gardener, Joseph Monier,in the mid-19th century. His firstexperiments had been with flowerpots, but once he showed hisrevolutionary materialconcrete


This was six feet too far, and the vaultcaved in. In 1573, the even moreambitious central tower of thecathedral, still under construction,collapsed. Only the choir and transeptsof this stratospherically ambitiousbuilding were finally completed. Theytell a tale of hubris, and yet the sky-high vaults of the choir are, it has to besaid, breathtaking. Would the ancient

made many times stronger with theaddition of reinforcing barsat theParis Exposition of 1867, engineers,then contractors, and finally architectsbegan to beat a path to his door.

Architects, especially in the 19thcentury when there was so muchtechnological change going on aroundthem, often found it hard to accept or to adapt to new materials. Equally,they often refused to see how a newmaterial might be beautiful. Theyfought an increasingly rear guardaction against new materials butfinally gave into them and, in the caseof concrete, did so with a vengeance.

THE STEEL REVOLUTIONIn modern construction, there is onemajor rival to concrete: steel. In fact,far more steel is used in building

construction today than concrete. Steeltook over from iron, which, although ithad been forged since 1600BCE, wasessentially a soft material. By the 19thcentury, it was still much used inarchitectural decoration and for small-span structures, but it would neverhave been strong enough to allow theconstruction of skyscrapers. This, ofcourse, is exactly what steel allowed.

ConConCC crecretettete conconconconco ceceacealedddleTheTheThee do do do dome me me m fof of thethe Pa nthththeoneoneo , RRomeomemmeme ii, iss bs builililt oot oot offfffconc crete,e althoh ugh itt is is clad in in whawhat wt wereereconsidered more decorative materials.

Harsh realityThe J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, D.C.headquarters of the FBItakes a tough linewith its Brutalist boxiness and raw concrete.


Wright published sensational sketchesof a 1 mile (1,600 m) high, 528-storyoffice tower he would have liked tohave built. His tower, The Illinois,never happened because of the costsinvolved and because no one (then ornow) could quite see how to getaround the problem of providingsufficient elevators traveling at acomfortable speed. What was notquestioned was the ability of engineersand contractors to build so high.

INTO THE FUTUREToday, there are many new materialsavailable for architects to toy with,from plastic reinforced with glass toneoprene (a synthetic rubber), artificialstone, glass-reinforced concrete,titanium, and even sea-cretionthe curious coral-like invention ofthe German architect Wolf Hilbertz. Yet many of these materials are usedonly decoratively, for cladding, or formodest structures. The living housesthat adapt their structures to humanemotions as described so thrillinglyand darkly in a short story in J. G.Ballards Vermilion Sands (1971) haveyet to come. The basic building blocks of architecture remain brick,

Within a few decades of its invention,the New York skyline had become awonder of the modern world.

Today, of the approximately onebillion tons of steel manufacturedworldwide, 60 percent is recycled. For this reason alone, steel is, beyondthe manufacturing process, anenvironmentally sound material. Itloses nothing in terms of strength orreliability through recycling. It allowsfor buildings that climb into the skyseemingly forever. No one is quite surehow tall a steel-framed building couldbe, although in 1956 Frank Lloyd

Steel took over from iron in 1856, when theEnglishman Henry Bessemer (181398) firstproved that pig iron could be decarbonized,via his Bessemer converter, to produce an immensely strong alloy that wouldrevolutionize architecture. The lightness ofsteel and concrete compared to masonryallowed towering structures to be built.

WHAWHAT IT IS SS STEETEEL?L?

Modern use of steelI hi S i C l Ci f A dIn architect Santiago Calatravas City of Arts andSciences, in Valencia, Spain, steel is used not as a ca conconcealealeded, re reinfinforcor iingg ararmatmatureure bu but ct celeelebrabratestes its contribububutiotion ttn to to thheshese se sweewee ipinping sg sg strutrutructuctucturesresres.


ststono e, tt timimi bbebbber,r ccccononcrcretete,eee and stet lel.These are the materials still used tocreate monumental buildings, not simply the ordinary dwellings shapedwith no eye for posterity.

Throughout the world and acrossThroughout the world and acrosshistory, shelters of one sort or anotherhave been built from hides, bones,wooden poles, bamboo, leaves, bark,fur, branches, reeds, ice, vegetablefibers, rocks, and mud. Occasionallythese have been used to createarchitecture, as in the extraordinarymud mosques of Mali. For the mostpart, though, these are the materials of temporary structures: igloos andtepees, yurts, and clay-and-wattle huts.These are beautiful structures, butgone, in terms of the stretch ofarchitectural history, with the wind,while the ziggurats of Mesopotamiacarry on from ancient history to

infinity. The natural woinfinity The natural world, hrld however,owevermay well have provided humans withideas for both materials and structuresthat would evolve into complex andthrilling architectural forms. Havebirds eggs, spiders webs, thehexagons of beehives, or the brilliantventilation systems of termites nestsaffected the way we have built as theflight of birds has to the developmentaircraft? Perhaps. Yet what seemsremarkable after so many centuries is that the basic building blocks havechanged so little. As toddlers, our firstact of building is to set one brick onanother. When we learn to do it well,we are on the way to architecture.

A new EdedeEdeded nnnnThe domes of Britains Eden Project are clad intransparent foil pillows, fixed to a framework thatis designed to allow the substitution of even newerbreathable materials as they become available.

34

A key first step in thecreation of any majornew building is thedecision as to whetherits construction is

necessary or justified. Popularlyknown as the Gherkin (Pickle) due toits unusual shape, 30 St. Mary Axethe headquarters of the insurancefirm Swiss Recame about throughparticularly dramatic circumstances.The Edwardian building it replaced,the Baltic Exchange, was severelydamaged by an IRA bomb blast in

INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURE

FROM CONCEPTS TO COMPLETIONDramatic new buildings such as the 590 ft (180 m) high 30 St. Mary Axe office building in the City of London,designed by Foster and Partners, are a test of the strengthof the relationship between architect, contractor, and client.

1992. The decision was made forit to be demolished, and to replaceit with an entirely new building.

Once the decision to build hasbeen made, the role of the architectis to fathom the needs of the newbuildings clients, and then considerhow these needs can be met withinthe constraints of local planningguidelines and laws, while alsosatisfying the wider cultural concernsof bodies charged by the governmentwith protecting, and even enhancing,local and national heritage.

level

21

level

1

Model of rotationsThis model of 30 St. Mary Axe shows how eachfloor plan rotates 5 degrees from the floor below,creating spiraling lightwells and sky gardens.

Study models of particular sections of thedesign of a building help the architect toconsider how light and shadow will fall duringthe course of the day. They can also be usedto demonstrate the flow of air through thebuilding, and to get a feel of what it might belike to work or live in specific areas.

STUDY MODELS

30 ST. MARY AXE

Sectional drawingsA cross-section of a proposedbuilding enables the architectsto peel away the skins of theirdesigns and reveal the interiorlayout and workings. Here, thecomplexity of the interiors of 30 St. Mary Axe is revealed.The drawing also serves todemonstrate the scale of theoffice tower in relation toexisting buildings around it.

Upper section of towerhas a different internal

layout from the officefloors below it

Circular officefloors offer a view

from every deskSix-floor atria, known assky gardens becausethey contain plants andtrees to re-oxygenatestale air from the offices

Bands of differentcolored glass wind

upward, markingthe sky gardens

level e

39

3

level

40

Floor plansIndividual floor planshelp to visualize theinterior spaces of abuilding, and can informits overall design. Thesecircular floor plans from30 St. Mary Axe are,from left to right:entrance lobby, typicaloffice floor, 70-seatrestaurant below bar,40th-floor bar.

Top-floor barand restaurant

36

Window designAn architects early sketch shows how the visual effect andstructural design will combine. Note that people are included to givea sense of scale, and as a reminder of the purpose of the building.

speed, their builders locked into tightand demanding contracts. Oncecompleted and hopefully wellreceived by clients, public, and critics,a building like this remains a concernof the architects who shaped it. Itserves as their most effective callingcard, determines their reputation, andis a key part of their historical legacy.

Window constructionOnly when the skin of a buildingbegins to cover its skeleton doesit start to look like the drawings.

The architects commissioned todeliver 30 St. Mary Axe, Fosterand Partners, are known for theiruncompromising exploration of technological innovation andforms, and made environmentalconsiderations an important concernin their design for the building.

The design of a building maymove through many stages, with thearchitects making sketches, computerdrawings, and 3-D models of theproposed building, working closelywith structural engineers and,gradually, as the form and detaileddesign of the project become clear, with a wide range of specialistengineers concerned with heating,ventilation, elevators, and lighting.Before construction of a building canbegin, drawings and models must beaapproved by planners in many stages.

Once all parties are satisfied and in agreement, the final workingdrawings are signed off, and thecontractors begin their work. Fewchanges are made to the design atthis stage, and certainly not to theessential structure of the building.Office towers like 30 St. Mary Axe rise from the ground with astonishing

3-D modelsDespite great advances made in computer drawings,cutaway models remain one of the most effectiveways of explaining the design of a building.

INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURE

The finished buildingWith its eye-catching designand unique shape, 30 St. MaMaryAxe, completed in 2004, is ananunmistakable featurere of of theheLondon skyline.e.

40

There are many theories about how and when civilizationandarchitecture with itbegan. Allneed to be prefaced with the wordperhaps because we are unlikely to ever be sure why people first settled and began to build on a heroicscale, with artistry beyond craft.However, most archaeologists agreerrthat urban life evolved in the MiddleEast long before the first cities ofCentral America and China, and that the location of this giant leapforward was Mesopotamiaan arearoughly equivalent to modern Iraq.Mesopotamiathe land bounded bythe Tigris and Euphrates rivers (thename means between the rivers in

K E Y D AT E S

5000B C EB C E 3000B C EC E

Cuneiform script The Sumerians developed the first writing in the 4thmillenium BCE. Marks in clay tablets were madeusing wedge-shaped (cuneiform) ends of cut reeds.

HE CITY IS ALMOST the defining characteristic of civilization. It is a place where people live and work cooperatively, producing

food to sustain not only themselves, but specialistsartisans, artists,architects, scribes, administrators, and priestswho shape a uniqueculture. The story of architecture therefore begins with the first cities.

FROM VILLAGE TO CITY

Greek)was essentially a dry land; its position between the two mightyrivers, however, allowed for easyirrigation of the desert, where reliablenative grassesbarley and wheatcould be grown as crops. Fish andwildfowl were also plentiful, allowingsettlers to build up the surpluses offood on which the beginnings ofurban civilization depended.

BUILDING COMMUNITIES Urban settlement was driven on byagricultural success and technologicaldevelopment. From around 3500BCE,bronze-age technology spread throughthe Middle East, replacing stone toolswith metal. The ox-drawn plowappeared in Mesopotamia around3000BCE, providing the first motiveforce beyond human muscle.

Ancient Mesopotamia hosted aprocession of great civilizations: theSumerians (33001900BCE) weresucceeded by the Akkadians, then theBabylonians, Assyrians, and Persians.The first Sumerian cities differedfrom earlier village settlementsbecause their surrounding lands werethought to be owned by a local god(rather than by families of clans).

ca. 2700BCEEgyptians beginwriting on papyrusscrolls, which canbe stored in libraries

ca. 5300BCE Possibleconstruction of firsttemple at Eridu;beginnings of citiesand architecture inMesopotamia

ca. 3300BCEInvention ofwriting, withcuneiform scripton clay tabletsdeveloped at Uruk

ca. 3500BCESumerians invent the

wheel, revolutionizingthe means and speedof exchanging goods

and ideas

1492BCE Tuthmosis I isthe first pharaoh

buried in a tomb cutinto the rock in Egypts

Valley of the Kings

ca. 2650BCEImhotep, high priestof Ptah at Memphis,erects a pyramidmade of stone atSakkara

ca. 3150BCE Rise ofEgyptian civilizationalong banks of theNile River

2000B C E

ca. 1755BCE Firstknown legalsystem codifiedby Babylonianking, Hammurabi


ca. 1200BCE Thefirst chapters ofthe Bible arewritten, inHebrew; the birthof monotheism

1020BCE TheHebrew king Davidconquers thePhilistines andunifies Israel

ca. 600BCEZarathustraforms a newreligion calledZoroastrianismin Persia

332BCE Alexanderthe Great conquersEgypt and theHellenization of thecountry begins

ca. 30BCE Defeat,by Augustus, and suicide ofCleopatra, last ofGreco-Egyptianmonarchs

ca. 50 Christianityemerges from Palestine,and is spread by Paul to Rome after deathof Christ

ca. 150CE TheastronomerPtolemy ofAlexandriaproves theworld is round

ca. 1450BCEEgyptians begintelling the timewith sundials

Looking tg o to the e skiessTheThe br brillillllianant lt ligight aandnd evever-chanhannginginging pg pg posiosiositiotitions

fof susun, mmmoon, sstartars, s, s, andandndand l pllplaneanetsts ooveve hrherherheadadad inininthethee firstst ci citietieties encourauraragegedgedged tth thh ososeee wh wh who fo fo founounoundedd ddeddededththem tm tm tm ooo desiesie ggn gn gn ththetheirir monmonmonmonumeumemementntatntatal bl bbl bbuuiluiluildindidindings gs gs gs gs g inininintuntuntunu e wwwitithithth tth thhee ge ge ge geoeoeomeoometretrtrtry oy oy oy of tff tf thehehe ehe heaheaheaheaheaheavenvenvenvenns.s.ss.

Mesopotamian people from Babyloniansto Persians saw their cities as sacred places.Babylon, the greatest of all Mesopotamiancities, was known as Babi-ilani, or the Gateof the Gods the place where the godswere thought to have descended to earth. In its time, Babylon was also an importantcenter for trade, linking the Persian Gulfwith the Mediterranean.

THE CITY AS TEMPLE

Ancient cityAround 570BCE, Babylon was the largest cityin the known world, covering more than 2,500 acres (1,000 ha).

1000B C EC E 1C E

42 FROM VILLAGE TO CITY

(with the 60-minute hour), literature(exemplified by the Epic of Gilgamesh,see opposite), and the zodiac.e

MOVING IDEAS Were the early Mesopotamian citystates, complete with their sacredtemple mountains, the blueprint forlater cities beyond the Middle Eastfrom Egypt to China, India, and theAmericas? Certainly, the steppedpyramid form appears in Egypt soonafter its development in Sumeria, and

Priests organized work on the land,which in turn provided food forthe whole community. A templededicated to the local god wastypically the center of the settlement,surrounded by public buildings andmarketplaces, and built up on astepped pyramid, or ziggurata kindof cosmic mountain. The priests wereat the hub of society because, onbehalf of the gods, they controlledmuch of a citys lands and irrigationsystems, as well as distributing the all-important agricultural surplus. TheSumerians created the very notion ofthe state, of law and kingship, whileinventing the calendar, the wheel,abstract mathematics, timekeeping

Gods of ancient EgyptThe Egyptians had as many as 2,000 gods, oftenrepresented as part human, part animal. This mural,picturing the gods Anubis and Horus, was discoveredon tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings.


The worlds first known work of literaturethe Epic of Gilgameshbegan life in southernhhSumeria between 2700 and 2500 BCE.Gilgamesh was a real Sumerian ruler whoreigned around 2700BCE, and the epic drewtogether poems and legends surrounding hisreign into a complete, mythologized story,inscribed in cuneiform, on 12 clay tablets. It includes an account of a cataclysmicflood, similar in detail to that in the Bible,promoting great interest from scholars.

SUMSUMSUMERIERIERIANAN AN LITLITLITERAERAERATURTURTUREEE

Epic of Gilgamesh Elements of the epic have been woven into laterbiblical and classical literature; this illustration isfrom Zabelle C. Boyajians 1924 book Gilgamesh.

it is likely that Sumerian masons andcraftsmen did travel to Egypt. Butalthough Egypt produced its owngreat cities, they never assumed theindependent identity and dynamismof those in Mesopotamiapartlybecause the activity in Egyptian citiesfocused more on serving the royalcourt than on building civic identity.Accordingly, the most famousmonumental architecture of Egypt isdedicated to dead pharaohs, ratherthan living communities.

The Bronze Age (which lasted untilaround 1200BCE in the Middle East)was a time when people traveled freelyover surprisingly large distances,spreading trade, myths, and ideas.Some commentators suggest that linksbetween the Old and New Worldswere well established during this time,explaining the appearance of thestepped pyramid form in CentralAmerica. These notions are highlycontroversial, but what is certain is thatsomething profound occurred around3000BCE, changing peoples whosubsisted by hunting and gathering,and lived in makeshift homes, into

Fertile floods As in Mesopotamia, Egyptian civilization depended onwater. Regular flooding of the Nile made the stripsof land on either side of the river extremely fertile.

builders of great cities girdled withwalls and adorned with temples andpalaces. Some claim that this changegives credence to the destruction-and-renewal myth of the Great Floodenshrined in so many cultures; forothers it simply marks a shiftno lessremarkablein human consciousness.

ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST 45

he surviving monuments ofancient Iraq, from ca. 3000BCE,

are all built of brick. Stone was largelyunavailable, as were the lengths ofunyielding timber necessary to spanlarge spaces. The most impressive ofthe early works of architecture in theancient Middle East is the Ziggurat ofUr (see p.47); but the one we would alllike to see, if only we could, is theTower of Babelthe great zigguratat Babylon. The base of this temple,measuring 295 ft (90 m) square, doesindeed suggest a daringly ambitiousstructure. Faced with blue-glazed bricksand rising in seven stages, it would havetowered over King Nebuchadnezzarslegendary palace beside the Euphrates,famous for the Hanging Gardens thatcascaded in great perfumed terracesfrom the top of the building. It is vitalto remember that what today are ruinsin a war-torn desert were once theraiments of powerful civilizations.

Gods and kings: the architecture of the ancient Middle East is thestory, as far as we can see, of these two forcesone divine, one would-be divine. This is largely because the everyday buildings of this period,in which people lived and worked, have long since vanished. What weare left with are the ruins, in various states of decay, of ambitiouspalaces and templesthe architecture of religion and power.

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STAIRCASE TO THE PALACE OF DARIUS I AT PERSEPOLIS, WITH RELIEF SHOWING A LIONAND A BULL IN COMBAT, AND SERVANTS CLIMBING STEPS TO SERVE AT THE KINGS TABLE.

A NEW ARCHITECTURAL PROCESSEventually, the region was swallowedup by the worlds first great empire,founded by Persias Cyrus the Great(ca. 600530BCE). From this time on,building styles were not only transferredfrom one city, or kingdom, to another,but they also began to be mingledto produce fusions of styles thatpushed architecture down newpathways and into creative risk-taking. Craftsmen from across the PersianempireAssyria, Babylon, Egypt, andIoniajoined forces to shape a newarchitecture that was far more fluid andsensual than that of the Sumerians,Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyriansbefore them. Lavishly decorated andaabrightly colored, the Palace ofPersepolis (see p.51), founded in 518BCE,shows just how far architecture hadmoved from the elementary zigguratsthat had introduced humanity toarchitecture some 2,500 years earlier.

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The basic building materials of ancient MiddleEastern architecture were brick and stone.Increasingly, surfaces were adorned, and thencovered, in tiles and relief sculpture. Much ofthis symbolic sculpture was brightly coloredand supported by inscriptions. The Palace ofPersepolis, begun by Darius I in 518BCE, isthe most impressive example of this era.

ELEMENTS

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Wall ReliefsStairs and terraces in Persepolis arelined with layers of relief carvings,separated from one another by bandsof rosettes. The figures depict statelyprocessions of Persian and foreignnobles, chieftains, courtiers,guardsmen, and tribute bearers fromacross the ancient empire.

Monumental script Babylonian buildings can beread like books. The palaceat Nimrud, for example,features reliefs of kings andcourtiers superimposed withdetailed and lengthyinscriptions listing theirachievements.

Inscriptions runacross the reliefs

Carving at the height ofthe Persian Empire washighly accomplished

Design intended to instil fear

Winged bulls usedin place of columns

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Gatewayguardians Enormous wingedbulls with beardedhuman heads wereused to flank theentrances to Assyrianand Persian citiesand palaces.

Animal statuaryPowerfully sculptedheads, wings,beaks, and claws ofreal and mythicalbeasts symbolizedthe power of kingsacross the region.


In the flat, sun-baked desert of southern Iraq, in what was once ancient Sumeria,lies the biblical city of Ur, home of Abraham and the site of one of the mostsignificant early architectural monumentsthe Ziggurat of Urnammu. Thisimposing structure commanded whatwas then a great walled city.

The Ziggurat stands alone and apart fromthe extensive remains of the excavatedstreets and tombs of the city of Ur.Originally it was walled around, at the hearta religious complex, and reached through agrand courtyard. This artificial sacredmountain was once topped by a templededicated to the Moon god Nanna, gainedby daunting flights of stairs that still survive.

When the Ziggurat was remodeled andexpanded by Urnammu (see below) and hissuccessors in the 21st century BCE, it wasalready an extremely old building. It isconstructed from mud bricks, the ubiquitousbuilding material of ancient Mesopotamia;each layer is bonded with bitumen, andsome with matting to improve stability. Theouter layer of bricks is baked for sharpnessof profile and durability.

Urnammus monument has survived overthe centuries, not least because of theingenuity of its construction: weeper holesin in thethe va vast st masmass of brickwork allow the

evaporation of water from the mud core,while drainage channels built into thestructure carry away rainwater. It remains a tantalizing feature of a landscape foughtover almost as long as it has been inhabited.

The powerful third dynasty of Ur was founded byUrnammu, an ancient Sumerian king who reignedbetween ca. 2113BCE and ca. 2096BCE and who built and restored many public buildings in Ur, includingthe great Ziggurat. In a bid for immortality, it must be said that Urnammu has done rather welleach of the many individual bricks used to build this amazing structure, the best preserved of allMesopotamian ziggurats, is stamped with his name.

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URNAMMU

ZIGGURAT OF URNAMMU, UR

A ca. 2125BCE BMUQAIYIR, IRAQ C URNAMMU D PLACE OF WORSHIP/CEREMONIAL BUILDING

CEREMONIAL STAIRWAY


battlemented gate guarded the way to thecitys main processional avenue, impressingvisitors to Nebuchadnezzars court. It ismagnificently patterned with dragons andlions, worked in low-relief kiln-fired bricksglazed with liquid asphalt. The dragonssymbolize Marduk, god of the city and giverof eternal life while the lions are a symbolof eternal life, while the lions are a symbolof the goddess Ishtar.

One of the eight main entries to the city ofBabylon (see opposite), the Ishtar gate todaystands inside the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.The structure was moved from Iraq soonafter its discovery in the early 20th century,and a two-thirds scale replica was built atits original location, commissioned bySaddam Hussein as part of a controversialSaddam Hussein as part of a controversialreconstruction of Babylon. The original

PALACE OF SARGON

A 706BCE B KHORSABAD, NORTHERN IRAQ C SARGON II D PALACE

ISHTAR GATE

AA 575575BCE BB BABYBABYLONLON, CEN CENTRALTRAL IRA IRAQQ CC NEBUNEBUCHADCHADNEZZNEZZAR IAR III DD ENTRENTRANCEANCE GAT GATEWAYEWAY

The palaces of the Assyrian Empire aresome of the largest and most imposingancient buildings in Mesopotamia,demonstrating the affluence, aspirations, anddetermination of the fierce military regimethat shaped them. Though dramatic, theempire was short-lived, and its kings were

clearly in a hurry to build on a heroic scale; the Palace of Sargon in the city ofKhorsabad was almost shoddily built inparts, making use of soft bricks laid on topof one another without mortar. And yet, theoverall effect of the architecture would havebeen overwhelming. Raised on a stoneplatform at a height level with the top of thecity walls, the palace covered almost 23acres (9 ha). At its heart was a throne roommeasuring 162 x 35 ft (49 x 10.7 m),crowned with a flat, decorated timber ceilingluxury in a land where wood was scarce.

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Valued materials The palace was decorated with reliefs showing the transport of precious wood to Khorsabad.


Nimrud is the site of the biblical city ofCalah. For its day it was an enormoussettlement: its walls extended 4.7 miles (7.5 km), and its peak population is said tohave been 100,000. The city was founded bythe Assyrian king Shalmaneser I in the 13thcentury BCE and was enlarged around880BCE during the reign of AshurnasirpalII. Nimrud continued to be a major center until it fell to the invading Babylonians and Medes between 614 and 612BCE.

Typically, this Assyrian city boasted apalace set in generous courtyards, completewith a ziggurat and stone relief carvingsdepicting bloody battles and lion hunting. It was also home to the fascinating Templeof Ezida, built in the 9th century BCE; herewas the sanctuary of Nabu, the god ofwriting. A well in front of Nabus sanctuaryprovided the water that, when mixed withfine clay, produced the writing tablets thatwere such an important part of life for allMesopotamian cultures.

The city of Nineveh, on the eastern bank ofthe Tigris River, was the final and greatestcapital of the Assyrian Empire. It wasfounded by Nimrod and laid out bySennacherib, son of Sargon II, but likemany ancient cities, its heyday was brief: itwas overrun and humbled by the Medes andthe Babylonians in 612BCE. Containingseveral palaces and girdled with 7.5 miles (12 km) of walls, it would have been animposing sight. Impressive stretches of wallsurvive to this day, some rebuilt by SaddamHussein. There are also remains of KingSennacheribs Palace without a rivalstilldecorated with aggressive carved stone reliefs.Many of the best reliefsincluding thosefrom King Ashurbanipals palaceare nowin the British Museum, London. They depictvivid scenes of royal lion hunting andgruesome executions of enemies in the bloodycampaigns fought by the Assyrians againstthe Elamites: Nineveh, like all Assyrian cities,was primarily a machine for making war.

According to the Old Testament, the templewas built by Davids son, Solomon, to housethe Ark of the Covenantthe container ofthe Ten Commandments. Nothing of theoriginal temple has survived: it was mostlikely destroyed by the Babylonians in the6th century BCE. Descriptions in the Bibleand archaeological digs suggest a buildingwith an inner sanctum fronted by a courtyard,with both structures surrounded by opencourtyards, as seen in the model below.

A 562BCE B CENTRAL IRAQ CC NEBUNEBUCHADCHADNEZZNEZZAR IAR II I DD CITYCITY

A 859BCE B NEAR MOSUL, NORTHERN IRAQ CC ASHUASHURNASRNASIRPAIRPAL IIL II DD CITYCITY

NIMRUDBABYLON

A ca. 700BCE BMOSUL, NORTHERN IRAQ C SENNACHERIB D CITY

NINEVEH

A ca. 1000BCE B JERUSALEM, ISRAEL C SOLOMON D PLACE OF WORSHIP

TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

At its peak, Babylon covered an area of atleast 3.9 sq miles (10 km2), making it by farthe biggest city of its time. Set along theEuphrates River, its walls enclosed a denselypacked mix of temples, shrines, markets, andhouses, divided by grand avenues set at rightangles to one another. The citys legendaryTower of Babel was a seven-tiered zigguratrising from a base 297 ft (90 m) square. The Hanging Gardensone of the sevenwonders of the ancient worldwere builtfor Nebuchadnezzars wife, Amytis.


vaultis part of what must have been atruly magnificent open-fronted banquetinghall. This arch (technically a pointed ovoid,a shape typical of Mesopotamia) is anastonishing 121 ft (36.7 m) high and spans 83 ft (25.3 m), rivaling anything builtby the Romans. The influence of Rome is

uch in evidence throughout thevery muof the palace: massive walls flankingdesign otral banqueting hall were animatedthe centoman-style arcading set between pairswwitw h Roched columns. The actual buildingofofoff attac, httype, owever, is very un-Roman: thetupendous banqueting hall was st

open-ended, forming, in effect, a hugely stylized tent. The eastwall of the palace remains; thewest and rear walls have collapsed,and, tragically, engineers now fearfor the integrity of the arch itself.

The Palace of Ctesiphon is one of the late-flowering wonders of Mesopotamianculture. Although built by the Persian kings of the Sassanid dynasty, it is in manyways a summary of the vigor and grandarchitectural ambitions of the manycivilizations of this region. Its most obviousfeaturea vast, single-span brick barrel

Carved into a solid cliff face, the tomb ofDarius I (see above, right) is inscribed with theachievements, reflections, and beliefs of thegreat Persian ruler. The finely executedfacade of the tomb is 60 ft (18.3 m) wide;high above the ground and facing the risingsun, the entrance is flanked by four columnssupporting an Egyptian-style cornice. Thecapitals are of the double-bull typecarvedbull heads facing away from one anothercharacteristic of Persian buildings of thisperiod. The design of the facade seems tobe adapted from the south front of Dariusspalace at Persepolis nearby.

A 485BCE B NAQSH-I-RUSTAM, SOUTHERN IRAN C DARIUS I D TOMB

TOMB OF DARIUS I

The remains of the Citadel of Van rise froma rocky outcrop more than 260 ft (80 m)high, offering panoramic views of thesurrounding countryside. From around3,000 years ago, Van was the capital of thekingdom of Urartu, a civilization of whichwe know little, except that it was an enemyof the Assyrians (as was every othercivilization within reach of their chariots).The base of the citadel was constructedfrom massive stone blocks, many of whichare still firmly in place; the superstructurewould have been made of mud bricks, whileroofs were either thatched or of timber. Theone surviving architectural feature is apowerful stone-built barbican, or fortifiedgateway, that once protected the entrance tothe citadel and its water supply. The internallayout of the citadel was probably along thelines of a densely inhabited castle. There areno remains of a temple, though rock tombs,with niches for lamps, have been found inthe walls of the south side of the citadel.

A ca. 800BCE B VAN, EASTERN TURKEY C SARDURI I D FORTRESS

CICITATADEDEL L OFOF VVANAN

Arch constructionThe largest vault in the ancient world,the impressive arch at Ctesiphon is made of unfired mud bricks.

PALACE OF CTESIPHON

AA caca. 35350 0 BB CTESCTESIPHOIPHON, CN CENTRENTRAL IAL IRAQ RAQ CC CHOSCHOSROESROES I I DD PALAPALACECE


With its imaginatively carved ceremonial stairways and its fabulous Hall of aHundred Columns, this complex must have been among the most thrilling buildingsof its time. Its architecture and decoration reflect the design and craftsmanship ofthe many civilizations and cultures broughtmostly by forceinto the orbit of thePersian Empire, and even its remaining ruins retain real visual power.

Most ancient buildings represent the cultureof one specific civilization; at Persepolis, webegin to see how architectural styles could befused across civilizations, producing hybriddesigns. The palace complex stands on astone platform measuring 1,518 x 907 ft (460x 275 m), raised 50 ft (15 m) above ground. Its courtyards and halls, built over decades,were reached by a magnificent stairway thatcan still be seen today; kings would haveascended the stairway on horseback. The highpoint of the complex was its Hallof a Hundred Columnsan imposingthrone room with brick walls 11 ft (3.4 m)thick and 100 double-bull columnssupporting an expansive cedar ceiling.

Walls of the principal buildings werelined with stone, those of lesser structureswith baked and glazed mud brick. Thepalace complex was decorated throughout

with stone reliefs and wall paintings ofnobles, courtiers, tribute-bearers, foreigndignitaries, soldiers, and others, creating avivid and lasting picture of life at the courtof one of the ancient worlds most powerfuldynasties. When visiting the bleached ruinsof Persepolis today, it is easy to forget thatthe original decorations were incrediblybrightly coloredprobably lurid to modernobserversand that the palace would havedazzled the eyes of awedancient visitors.

By the time of his death in 486BCE, Darius I had extended thePersian Empire as far as India andThrace. He built Persepolis as theshowcase of his great empire, dedicating it toAhuramazda, the supreme god of the Persians.Work on the complexs giant platform began around518BCE, but the task was not completed until manyyears later by Artaxerxes I.

The fall of PersepolisThe splendor of Persepolis lasted until 330BCE,when it was looted by Alexander the Great. The sitewas rediscovered in the 17th century.

DARIUS I

PALACE COMPLEX OF PERSEPOLIS

A 480BCE B PERSEPOLIS, SOUTHERN IRAN C DARIUS I D PALACE

THE KING OF KINGSDARIUS I

ANCIENT EGYPT 53

ysterious, consistent, and, onceestablished, a law unto itself,

the architecture of ancient Egyptdeveloped slowly over a period ofsome 3,000 years, at a time when thecountry was mostly free of invaders,wealthy, and well organized. Thecountrys fortune and culture werebased around the seasonal cycle andflow of the Nile River. Each year, asthe waters of the river rose and thevalley bloomed, agriculture becamethe main focus of activity, producingthe food that would have to lastthrough the next dry season. Therewas little farmers and their laborerscould do when the river fell, however,and so ancient Egypt was blessed forfive months of the year with a surplusof skilled and unskilled workers whocould be set to work on monumentalarchitectural projects. And so thepyramids arose, designed to house themummified bodies of pharaohs and

The civilization of the ancient Egyptians will never cease to fascinateus. The complexity of its myths, its highly involved burial rituals, itsmummified cats and pet snakes, and the sheer tenacity of a culturethat lasted essentially unchanged over thousands of years are utterlycompelling. So, too, is its haunting, powerful architecture: the geometricbrilliance of the pyramids, and the eeriness of the temples and tombs.

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THE OLDEST OF THE ANCIENT WONDERS OF THE WORLD, THE GREAT PYRAMID OFKHUFU AT GIZA, EGYPT, IS THE ONLY WONDER THAT SURVIVES TODAY.

their treasures. The first, the StepPyramid of Zoser at Sakkara (see p.55),was designed by Imhotepalso thefirst architect whom we know by name.

ENDURING LEGACYAlthough it eventually ossified,Egyptian culture has continued tofascinate visitors and explorers overthe centuries. The ancient Romanswere entranced by it. And in 1922,when the English archaeologistHoward Carter discovered theunderground tomb of the young kingTutankhamunan 18th-Dynastypharaoh (13341323BCE) of onlymoderate significance in Egyptianhistoryhe triggered a craze for allthings Egyptian that has yet to diedown. It encouraged the Art-Decomovement in the late 1920s and early1930s, nurtured countless books andfilms, and enticed millions of touristsdown the Nile from Cairo to Luxor.

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Egyptian architecture is characterized by massive stoneelementshuge sloping walls, mountainous pyramids,colossal statuary, and imposing colonnades. Woven into thismix were stone representations of gods, some with human

characteristics, others in the guise of animals,while plant forms were used

extensively for capitals.

Lotus bud capitalsThese highly abstractcapitals, based onclosed lotus flowers, sitatop elongated columnsthat form a hypostylehall at the heart of thetemtemple of Luxor.

Sphinxes Processional avenues leadingto temple entrances were oftenlined with rows of statues ofsphinxesmythical creatureswith the body of a lion but thehead of a ram or human.

Entranrance pylonsTheThehe do orwways of manytemmmte pleplep s aare re set betweenmasasm sivsivvvs e pe yloons, such asthetheth sese at tat the Te Temple ofIsiIsiiIs s,s, PhihiiP laelala . Pyylonsccoonnceal el eeitherr light-fiililfilleed ccocoururtyarards d orhyhyyppy oststo yleyleeey hallss.

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Sloopinp g g wg wwg alla s aareimmmenenseelyelyely stst s ronro gg

ELEMENTS

Relief sculpturesAncient Egyptianbuildings were designedto be read as well asseen: reliefs on thewalls of temples andpalpalaceaces ts toldold st storiorieses witwithhpictoggggramrams as aanddnd nd picppicpicturrturt es.eses.

Papyrus capitalsThe design of thecapitals of Egyptiancolumns was rooted in stylized plant forms,such as the papyrus,common to the banks of the Nile River.

Monumental entrance statuaryHugHuge se stattatuesues of of ph p araohs were erected in front oftemtemtemplepplep s ts to impresss th th de diviivinene migmight h of kings on meremormortalt s. Here, e iinin frofrofrontntnt ofoofof thett Great TeT lmple, AbuAbu-SimSimS belbe , s, sit ffour ir idendentictical a mas isivi e se se sstattatattatuesue of Rameses.

ANCIENT EGYPT 55

The tomb of the pharaoh Zoser is the worlds first large-scale stone monumentand the first of the Egyptian pyramids. Its revolutionary design was the work of the first architect we know by name, Imhotep. Originally simply anothermastaba, or single-story stone funerary monument, the stepped form ofthe 197 ft (60 m) high limestone pyramid developed over many years.

To create this magnificent stepped pyramid,six traditional, single-story monuments, eachsmaller than the one below it, are effectivelypiled on top of one another. The base of theresulting great pyramid measures 410 x358 ft (125 x 109 m).

The pyramid was only one part of a vastreligious complex set within a limestone-walled enclosure measuring 1,795 x 912 ft(547 x 278 m). A single true entrance among many false ones led into a hugecourtyard full of dummy buildings,reproduced from those at Zosers palace;when the pharaoh went to the heavens, heintended to take the architecture he hadcommissioned with him. Beyond theentrance are avenues, columned halls,shrines, chapels, and store rooms.

In this great monument, stone was usedfor the first time to roof over spaces, provingthat it was a far more flexible material than

earlier builders had realized. Fiverectangular layers of brilliant whitelimestone were constructed on topof one another in decreasingdimensions to a height of 204 ft(62 m). The burial chamber is90 ft (27 m) below the surfaceand lined with granite. The useof stone instead of mud brick is thought to represent thepharaohs desire for eternal life.

King Zoser of Egypt, a ruler in the 3rdDynasty (26752625BCE), commissioned hischief vizier, Imhotep, to build his eternalresting place. The monument took manyyears to complete. Imhotep (right), who))has been titled architect, engineer, sage,doctor, astronomer, and high priest, waslater worshiped as the god of wisdom.

STEP PYRAMID OF ZOSER

A ca. 2650BCE B SAKKARA, EGYPT C IMHOTEP D FUNERARY MONUMENT

The first pyramidUndUndergrououndnd mastabtabaswere usually given anoveovergrrrgrounounddd presre encenccee,butbut la layeryereded masmastabtabasascrecreateated ad an astonishinggpyrpyrp amiamidaldal mo monumnumentent..

BRONZE STATUEOF IMHOTEP

IMHOTEP

The Grandd Ga GalleeryyyryyyyThe high-roofed papassassagewgewwgge ayayyayyleading to the entrance e totothe Kings Chamber has slitsthat allow in the light. Thegallery may have been usedas an observatory, or possiblyto store the huge blocks ofgranite that ultimately closedoff the burial chamber.


Egyptian pharaoh Khufu ruled 258966BCE, and histomb is the largest of three pyramids at Giza, standingfurther north and east than the other two. His tombwas robbed thousands of years ago, and the internallayout of the pyramid has changed, so we know littleabout him. However, we know that the pharaoh wasburied alone in this massive, man-made mountain,which probably took 20 years to build with slavelabor. The largest pyramid ever built, it originallystood 481 ft (147 m) high and consists of some 2.3million blocks of stone weighing an average of 2.5tons. Its four equal sides each measure 791 ft(241 m). The pyramid was originally coveredwith polished limestone, which has longsince eroded or been removed. Thereare three chambers inside, thoughonly one person was buried here.

GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFUAA caca. 25. 256666BCEBCE BB GIZAGIZA, EG, EGYPT YPT CC UNKNUNKNOWN OWN DD BURIBURIAL SAL SITEITE

THE PYRAMIDS AT GIZA

Ivory statuetteThis tiny figure, 3.5 in(9 cm) tall, dates fromca. 1590BCE. It is theonly depiction everfound of Khufu.

The Kings Chambercontained a huge granitesarcophagus without a lid

The descending paspassags eends in a natural stone e pitpitand a blank wall

57

Vast blocks of stone The rough outline of the hugeblocks that form the pyramid wasoriginally masked by a casing ofwhite limestone. The constructionis now clearly visible.

Under the limestone,the granite constructionblocks form giant steps

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The low entrance to the centralchamber was sealed with a

massive granite block

A hA hA hhA hA hA hhA iigighighighh-ro-roro-ro-rrooofeofofeo eddd pd p paasssssagagagehhhehehererherere ie ie ie ie s ks knnonowowwnn aass ts the

GrGrGraandnd d GGGallery

The top stones ofthe pyramid mayha e been gildedhave been gilded

ANCIENT EGYPT


could venture only this far. Beyond, ahypostyle (many-columned) hall lit by aclerestory announced the sanctuary, with itsattendant chapels and a further hypostylehall in the depths of the building. This wasthe realm of the temples god and his, her,or its priests. Unlike ziggurats andpyramids, these buildings were not sacredmountains but were entered and used inways that, despite the exotic and oftenobscure nature of Egyptian gods, seemf ili t t dfamiliar to us today.

While pyramids and mortuary chapels werefor the worship of kings, temples were forthe worship of gods. There were many ofthese in the Egyptian pantheon, so therewere very many temples. The archetype isthe Temple of Khons, within the greatreligious complex of Karnak, near modernLuxor. An avenue of sphinxes led to anobelisk and then the massive entrancepylon to the temple itself. Within was acloisterlike courtyard, bordered by a

d O di lmighty double colonnade. Ordinary people

TOMBS OF THE KINGS, THEBES

A 1500BCE B VALLEY OF THE KINGS, LUXOR, EGYPT C IMHOTEP D TOMB

TEMPLE OF KHONS, KARNAK

AA 11981198BCE BB KARNKARNAKAK, EGYPEGYPTT CC UNKNUNKNOWNOWN DD PLACPLACE OFE OF WOR WORSHIPSHIP

After the heroic era of pyramid building,later pharaohs of the New Kingdom choseto be buried very differently, in sarcophagiburied deep underground, largely to protecttheir remains and treasures from tombrobbers. The earliest of these tombs are inthe parched mountains on the west side ofthe Nile near Thebes (now Luxor). Here, themummies of pharaohs of the 18th, 19th,and 20th Dynasties were hidden in richlydecorated rock chambers, some supportedby rows of columns. These chambers can beas deep as 315 ft (96 m) below ground andas far as 690 ft (210 m) into the rock face,reached by long, sloping corridors, stairs,and labyrinthine antechambers.

Earthly treasuresHidden below ground, the walls and ceilings of themany Tombs of the Kings are adorned with colorfulpaintings and elaborate inscriptions.

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ANCIENT EGYPT 59

chapel and a giant altar to the sun god, Ra. Dug into the cliff face, a sanctuary forpriests to go about their ineffable duties isset behind this court. Hatshepsut attainedunprecendented power for a queen and theunprecendented power for a queen, and thetemple is a work of true adoration: statuesand sphinxes of the queen line the upperterraces, while reliefs carved into thestructure of the hypostyle hall depictanimated stories of her life.

Queen Hatshepsuts burial chamber lies inthe mountains far away from this, hermagnificent mortuary chapel. Stretchedagainst and dug into an imposing rock face,the chapel looks remarkably modern tothe chapel looks remarkably modern tocontemporary eyes, resembling a 19th-century Neo-Classical museum or gallery.

The temple was designed by the queensarchitect, Senmut, who arranged theapproach to the chapel in the form of threehorizontal terraces, each fronted by shadydouble colonnades gained by giant ramps.TheThheT ehe toto to pmopmop stst terterracrace ce cccontontontontainaini s ass as cococoo lonlonnlonlo nadnaddedededewalwwalwalwalleddledledled coo co co courturturturtu hoho ho housiusiusiuusingng ngng g theththetheththe qququ qu quq eeneneeneeeenss ss s mormorrmormortuatuatuatuaryryryryyy

GREAT TEMPLE OF AMUN, KARNAK

A 1530BCE B KARNAK, EGYPT C THOTMES I D PLACE OF WORSHIP

TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT

AA 323323BCEBCE BB DR DR EL-BEL-BAHARAHARI, EI EGYPTGYPT CC SENMSENMUT UT DD PLACPLACE OFE OF WORWORSHIPSHIP

Enduring legacyThe highly decorated walls of the temple include adepddepdepdepictictionionionon ofofof of HaHa Ha Hatshtshtshtshepsepsepepsutututut s as as as llelegedgedgedgedly ly y y divdivd ineinenee li li l l neaneaeaneaneage,ge,ge,ge,detdetdetdetdd ailailailailingingngiiningng thththth thhhhe ce cce cce ce lailailailaim ttttm tttm m m hahathathathathathat th thththe ge gee ge gee ggood ood od ood AmuAmuAmAAmAmumuAmuAmun Rn RRn Rn Rn Rn Rn Raa ia ia ia ia i hs hs hs hs hs hs er er er er erererr fatfatfatfffatfa herhhherherherhe ...

Temple guardA small statue of the Egyptian godAmun Ra stands sentinel by theremains of a massive pylon.

hide-and-seek with local tourist guides as itis a source of architectural wonder. Thegrandest of all Egyptian temples, this is thecollective work of kings and their architectsand craftsmen over 1,200 years. Within itsmassive walls, smaller, earlier shrines arecontained within later examples, so that,taken as a whole, the temple is a bit like a

Russian doll. The temple site, by a sacredlake, measures a breathtaking 1,200 x

360 ft (366 x 110 m)dauntingfor visitors on hot daysand is

still connected, more or less, tothe Temple at Luxor by anavenue of sphinxes. Once, nofewer than six pylons led intothe temples various and vastcourtyards, flanking temples,hypostyle courtyard, andnuminous sanctuaries.

Enormous, dramatic, andpyramids asideone of the most enduring images ofancient Egypt, the Temple of Amun is atruly mesmerizing structure: the hypostylehall at its core boasts no fewer than 134immense freestanding columnsmarching in 16 rows, allexuberantly decorated; thoseat the center are 69 ft (21 m)high and 12 ft (3.6 m) indiameter. Today, the templeis as much a place to play

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GREAT TEMPLE, ABU-SIMBEL

A ca. 1257BCE B ABU-SIMBEL, EGYPT C RAMESES II D PLACE OF WORSHIP

sunrise. The hauntingfacade of the templeis 118 ft (36 m) wideand 105 ft (32 m)high, while the statuesreach over 66 ft (20 m)high. Behind them is a 30 ft (9 m) high hallsupported by eightfinely decoratedcolumns. Beyond this is a smaller, columned hall, flanked byasymmetrically placed shrines, leading into a complex sanctuary, its holiest sanctumpresided over by statues of gods sitting withpresided over by statues of gods sitting withthe deified Pharaoh (see above). Rameses II iis tent bomb ded ffar away iin ththe mo tunt iains, b tbuthherherheree, dandandand tat at thth th Re Re Re Ramameamessesseummum, ThThTh Th bebeebess, iiisis

hwhere hhe was wo hrshiipep dd.

The two temples were removed, piece bypiece, by craftsmen who sawed painstakinglythrough the ancient stones, reassemblingthem in a similar setting not so very faraway. Originally approached through acourtyard, the imposing rock-face facadeof the Great Temple, shaped in the guise ofa giant pylon, is famous for its four giganticstatues of the seated Rameses II: here, quiteclearly, was a king not prepared to do thingsby halves, much less by quarters. At his feetare small statues of his wife, Nefartari, hismother, Mut-tuy, and his children; above,a carved row of smiling baboons greets the

Utterly magnificent, this great rock-cut temple, one of two commissioned byRameses II to honor his own memory, is lucky to survive. The original setting ofthe temples on the banks of the Nile is today deep under the waters contained bythe Aswan High Dam, itself a fine and memorable structurebuilt to Russian design in the 1960s, some 3,200 years later.

INNER SANCTUARY

During the four years from the start of constructionof the Aswan High Dam to when the reservoir beganfilling, 24 ancient monuments were either moved tosafer locations, like the Great Temple and the Templeof Isis, or given to countries that had aided theUNESCO-coordinated work; the Debod Temple, forexample, now sits on a hill in Madrid, Spain.

ASWAN AND UNESCO

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Documents

Eyewitness Companions Architecture (Eyewitness Companion Guides) by Jonathan Glancey