These are the complex’s ceremonial gates; small temples to the gods and the statue of Athena Promachos are located there. After that, one gradually moves into the interior, where the pearl in the Athenian crown is revealed — the Parthenon. The building was constructed by Phidias and represents an exceptional architectural creation for a number of reasons. It incorporates the Doric order, which is not characterized by particular splendor, but nevertheless interacts excellently with the scale of the building and creates a spirit of grandeur.
The building was designed so that the perspective foreshortening from a distance would not have an effect on it; and even though at first glance it is curved in places and the distances between the columns are uneven, it appears perfectly straight when viewed from afar. Inside the cella (main room) was housed the famous statue of Athena Parthenos — a work also by Phidias. The other most important building in the complex directs us toward a later level of the classical period, when uniformity seemed to be stifling the creators, and they sought something new, but still not in the style of Hellenism. This refers to the temple of Athena and Poseidon — the Erechtheion.
The impressive element there is the use of a method that had fallen into the background, even one foreign to Classicism: Caryatids — sculptures of women that play the role of columns. What’s striking here is that despite the enormous weight resting upon them, which requires their sturdiness, they remain so graceful and ethereal, as if the entablature above is suspended by a rope from some invisible ceiling. The mastery of the Erechtheion lies here. By this time, the use of the Ionic order had become common practice, and the need for additional splendor led to the creation of a new one — the Corinthian, inspired by the leaves and volutes of the Ionic.
