The earliest Greek Sanctuaries probably did not contain temple buildings, though our knowledge of these is … See more

Canonical Greek temples maintained the same basic structure throughout many centuries. The Greeks used a limited number of spatial components, influencing the plan, and of architectural members, determinin… See more

The foundations of Greek temples could reach dimensions of up to 115 by 55 m, i.e. the size of an average football pitch. Columns could reach a height of 20 m. To design such large architectural bodies harmoniou… See more

To loosen up the mathematical strictness and to counteract distortions of human visual perception, a slight curvature of the whole building, hardly visible with the naked eye, was introduced. The ancient architects had realise… See more

Only three basic colours were used: white, blue and red, occasionally also black. The crepidoma, columns, and architrave were mostly white. Only details, like the horizontally cut grooves at the bottom of Doric capit… See more

The functions of the temple mainly concentrated on the naos, the "dwelling" of the cult statue. The elaboration of the temple's external aspects served to stress the dignity of the naos. In contrast, the naos itself was of… See more