History of Architecture-I

ASST. PROF. PRADIP POKHAREL

PART A: 3 CLASSICAL GREEK ARCHITECTURE, INFLUENCE OF MINOAN AND

MYCENAEAN ARCHITECTURE
 History of Architecture – 1 Part A Western
Course Outline
1. Evolution of Architecture during Pre-historic Period (2 hrs)
2. Influence of socio-cultural beliefs in Egyptian and
Mesopotamian Architecture (3 hrs)
3. Classical Greek architecture, Influence of Minoan &
Mycenaean Architecture (3 hrs)
4. Roman architecture; innovations in construction and
building Materials (4 hrs)
5. Architecture during early Christian, Monastic, Romanesque
& Byzantine Period (2 hrs)
6. Evol ution of Gothic architecture (2 hrs)
7. European Renaissance architecture (2 hrs)
8. Baroque & Rococo architecture (2 hrs)
 Minoan Civilization
Around 2000 BCE, a rich but mysterious civilization
appeared on Crete and flourished till 1400 BCE after
which it was conquered by Mycenaeans from the Greek
mainland.
The civilization was termed Minoan after Minos who,
according to Greek legend, was king at Knossos, the
dominant city of the island.
The name Minos probably referred to a hereditary title
rather than a single name.
The island accumulated great wealth from the sea
through trade with Anatolia, Egypt, Levant and
Mesopotamia.
Their palaces indicate a relaxed and luxurious lifestyle.
 Minoan Civilization
The civilization was almost destroyed by a terrible
earthquake around 1700 BCE, but Knossos and its palace
was built over the same site on a grander scale

Palace of Knossos
The palace of Knossos built in 1700-1400 BCE by king
Minos was an ensemble of various units set about a
central courtyard without any kind of defining
symmetry.
It was the religious focal point, administrative center,
manufacturing center, series of stores and the king’s
palace.
The palace had no conceptual order or monumentality. It
was informal, colorful and comfortable.
 Palace of Knossos
The walls were of unbaked bricks while wood which had
good anti- seismic properties was used for columns and
beams to support the wooden roofs.
The main entrance to the courtyard was from the south
side.
The ground floor had the throne room, the main cult
rooms and shrines on the west side.
The state rooms were on the first floor. Granaries and
industries were on the north side.
The palace was built on several floors on the SE side.

The central courtyard which was 60m by 30m was

regularly used for ritual dancing by women and acrobats.
Plan of the palace, Knossos, Crete, ca. 1700-1380 BC
Palace of Knossos
The Colonnaded West Wing Facing the Central
Courtyard, Royal Palace
Grand Staircase, Royal Palace, Knossos
Throne Room, palace, Knossos, Crete w/frescoes on walls
Restored light-well, Knossos, Crete (above Throne Room)
Reconstructed
light-well
staircase,
Palace,
Knossos, Crete
ca. 1700-1380
BC

Major
ceremonial
rooms located
partially
underground
around open
shafts for light
and air.
The Bull Festival in the Central Courtyard
 Mycenaean Civilization
The culture on the mainland Greece was called
Mycenaean, after the city of Mycenae.
Mycenaean cities were built on high ridges using the
natural terrain to provide protection.
The palace with its megaron (main hall/room) as the
principal room, where the throne and the hearth were
situated, formed the central focus of the city. The plan
form of the megaron would be later chosen by the Greeks
for their temple design. The home of the chief would be
chosen as the prototype for the home of the gods.
The Lion Gate, c.1250 BC, was the main entrance in the
fortification walls around the palace of Mycenae. Its form
would have a strong influence on the design of the Greek
temple front, with its tympanum over a colonnade.
The Greeks would thus develop these two forms of the
megaron and the Lion Gate into an architecture which
would be the source of all architecture of the Western
world.

1. Lion Gate
2. The Grave Circle
3. Houses of the
Aristocracy
4. The Royal Palace

Aerial View of Ruins of

Mycenae, Greece
 The Lion Gate

•Built in 1250 BCE

•Trabeated gate
structure built within a
Cyclopean fortification
wall.
•Triangular relief of two
lions standing by the
Minoan column.
 Burial Chambers of the Mycenaens
After 1500 BCE the burial tombs were cut into rocky
hillsides with a passage leading to the burial chambers.
Royal families had more elaborate tombs known as tholos
or beehive tombs.
The royal tombs consisted of a circular chamber cut into
the hillside, covered by corbel-vault structures which were
later covered by earth to form a mound. The chamber was
approached by an open passage lined with masonry called
“dromos”.
These are reminiscent of the Neolithic passage graves.
Whereas the Neolithic tombs were built above ground and
covered by earthen mounds, the tholos was excavated
from a hillside and retaining walls were built to hold the
sides.
 Burial Chambers of the Mycenaens
The king was buried in a pit in a room adjacent to the
circular chamber and the pit was covered with stone
slabs. Treasures were buried along with the king. His wife
and attendants were also probably buried along with the
king.
After burial, the door was closed and secured, and the
dromos was filled with earth.
 Treasury of Atreus (Tomb of Agamemnon), 14th
Century BC
Treasury of Atreus, also
known as Tomb of
Agamemnon, was built
between 1350-1250 BC. The
dromos is 6m. wide and 36m.
long rising to 13.7m. at the
entrance. The chamber is
14.5m. in diameter and 13.2
m. high, made up of circular
courses of stone. A lateral
rock-cut chamber 8.2 m.
square and 5.8 m. high was
the actual burial place
 The Greek Megaron and Temple
The megaron was the chieftain’s house in Mycenaea with
its large central hall, entryway with vestibule and most
importantly a deep porch formed by prolonging the side
walls.
The megaron also became the central unit of the palace
complex as can be clearly found in the Mycenaean palaces
at Pylos, Tiryns and Mycenae.
Sacrificial animals were burnt in the central hearth,
beside which was placed an offering table.
The king’s throne was placed in the middle of one of the
long sides.
The megaron was the basis of all Classical Greek temple
design, however, the continuous exterior colonnade was of
Greek origin.
 Tiryns, Mycenean Citadel, Greece, 1400-1280 BC
Plan,
Palace
(1250-
1200
BC)
and
south
part of
Citadel
at
Tiryns,
Greece
1400-
1280
BC
Megaron Plans

Development of
megaron concept in
various houses and
palaces.

Compass orientation
not important at this
early stage of
megaron
development.
 The north-south orientation
of the megaron was changed
so entry was from the east.
Instead of the flat roof of the
megaron, all stone temples
had gabled roofs with roofing
tiles. The royal hearth was
displaced by the statue of the
deity.

Following the megaron

design, the early Greek
temple had a rectangular
interior called cella (or naos)
and an entrance porch with
two columns between
projecting walls.
Megaron, Akropolis Palace, Tiryns, Greece ca. 1400-1200 BC
Main Hall or Megaron of Palace, Pylos, Greece,
13th Century BC
 Greek Civilization
After the Dorians destroyed the Mycenaean civilization
around 1150-1100 BC, there was total reversal in
architectural terms.
The big palaces, fortresses and tombs of Crete and
Mycenaea was completely forgotten, and Greece entered
the dark ages (1100 – 700 BC).

Between 6-8 century BC, a new urban fabric began to

evolve over the Aegean.

The alphabets were introduced, coined money was

invented around 650 BC and power was devolved from the
citadel to the democratic village-based community.
 Greek Civilization
Cities rose, multiplied, flourished and colonized. An active
program of colonization, bearing all the essential
institutions and equipment of the mother city spread the
Greek polis to all nearby areas.
The absolute powers of the monarch, as seen in early
Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities were missing in the
Greek cities. The democratic habits of the village in which
each citizen participated fully, and decisions were made
communally were followed in the polis.
The acropolis at the highest point of the city was the
spiritual center and after the 7th century BC the temples
and not the palace were the crowning structures. The
temple and monuments were built of stone on the
Acropolis.
 Greek Architectural Development
The houses below, however, were built of unbaked bricks
with tile roofs or even of mud and wattle with thatched
roof. There were no gardens, the streets were unpaved,
and the sanitary conditions were atrocious. No evidences
of latrines.
The lanes were narrow and crooked. The houses of the
nobles and the poor lay side by side but could not be
distinguished from outside.
The agora began as a meeting place of the people, where
elders gave decisions and where games and dances were
held. Gradually it changed into a marketplace.
Law, government and even religion entered the agora,
making it even more important than the acropolis and it
began to occupy the central location in the city.
Typical Greek housing
designed around central
courtyard.
Athens, housing of fifth to fourth century BC
(reconstructed views) typical house built around a
courtyard with few exterior windows.
House of Comedians, Delos,
2nd Century BC
 Greek Architecture
Greek architecture was influenced by the Egyptian and
Near East cultures as well as by developments in Crete
and Mycenae. The Greeks were the last of the megalithic
architects. Their trabeated architecture, with all its
refinements, made no structural advancement over the
stone henge. The Greeks knew about the arch but never
exploited it which the Romans were to do.
Greek architecture was very conservative. All the elements
were copies of the wooden past. Greek architecture paid no
heed to tombs, palaces or houses; they were more
interested in theatres, council halls, public porticos,
planning of cities but most of all in building temples. The
temples received the finest building materials, the richest
decorations and the most complex architectural forms.
Greek Art
Greek Art
Greek Architecture
 Plans of Greek Temples

Odd numbers of columns in the front were rare while the

number of columns on the side were one more than twice
the number in the front.
 Reference Books
Textbooks
Fletcher, Banister; A History of Architecture, various
editions.
Reference Books
A Global History of Architecture by Francis D.K. Ching
Mark M. Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash.
Trachtenberg, Marvin; Hyman, Isabelle; Architecture,
From Prehistory to Post Modernism/ the Western
Tradition; Prentice Hall, 1986.
Kostof, Spiro; A History of Architecture; Oxford
University Press, 1985.
Lecture Notes from Prof. Vijay Burathoki, PEC, IOE
Pulchowk Campus and Brac University, Bangladesh
Thank You