Bassae
The Temple of Apollo at Bassae ( in the Peloponnese, in 1,150 meters above sea level, community Ira, Greece) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the second best-preserved Greek temples of the mother country (after Hephaisteion in Athens). He was dedicated to the healing god Apollo Epicurean.
History
After the writer Pausanias, the temple 430-420 BC was built by the inhabitants of the nearby village Phigaleia in honor of Apollo Epicurean, as this had saved during the time of the Peloponnesian War against the plague. Apollon have shown the inhabitants to this day unknown a medicinal plant and then they were cured of their disease. In thanks, they built the plant in reference to the temple of Apollo Epicurean - translated: " the healing Apollo ".
Architecture
The architect of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, Iktinos got (according to Pausanias, disputed today ) the contract for the construction. He made use of various stylistic features of Corinthian and Ionic elements and combined them with Doric six meter high columns, so that all three Greek orders of columns are represented. The Corinthian order can be found here according to previous findings for the first time.
According to Pausanias, "(...) is the temple and its roof made of stone. Of all the temples in the Peloponnese, he is likely to earn in Tegea the advantage because of the beauty of the stone and because of its balance after. " Unusually, the orientation of the temple, whose main axis is not as common in east-west direction, but from north to south. Therefore, its main entrance is not on the east side, but on the north side. Furthermore, can be found behind the cella a " Adyton ", an additional room with a door opening to the east. The reasons for the peculiar north-south orientation has already been much speculation; a possible explanation for this is the difficult terrain structure.
The temple is relatively well preserved: its 39 pillars still exist, as well as large parts of the masonry. The temple, however, was completely collapsed down to the columns and the first layer of bricks, the giant orthostat and has been erected by the first researchers again. Indication of a roof have not been found.
Was discovered in the temple in 1765 by the French architect Joachim Bocher, who was in the service of Venice. The first excavation took place in 1812 under the direction of Otto Magnus von Stackelberg instead. The he discovered relief frieze of the cella inner wall is located since 1814 in the British Museum in London. It shows the Amazon fight ( amazonomachy ) and the Kentaurenschlacht ( Centauromachy ). It is the only preserved from the ancient Greek cella interior frieze. The exact location sequence of Relief plates can no longer be traced today. It is unusual that the two issues are distributed unequally on many plates: 12 plates show the amazonomachy, 11 the Centauromachy. The presentation of the Kentaurenenschlacht is unusual: Normally it indicates either the breach of hospitality by the Centaurs at the wedding of Pirithous, or they will take place outdoors, but then women are always present. However, in the case of Bassae frieze of the battle will take place outdoors, although women are present.
1835 created the Russian painter Karl Brullov ( 1799-1852 ), a watercolor of the temple, which now hangs in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
Since 1987, a tent construction protects the temple against wind and weather. This will be removed after completion of the current restoration work.
Special
Through the development of the Greek language, the name of the temple for some language of confusion. In ancient Greek temple in the plural Βάσσαι / Bassai and Latin Bassae was written. This is pronounced in Modern Greek as Vassae and changed beyond ( pronounced: Vasses ) in the ending to Βάσσες. All italics variants occur.