Die Volkssagen Der Altmark (1839)

Since the cultural rediscovery of Greece in the 18th century the image of Greek architecture in the Western world has been dominated by the monuments of antiquity. Only by the end of the 19th century what had by then become an archaeological obsession ceased to be so exceedingly exclusive, so that the study of the religious architecture of the Middle Ages could be established as a new field of research. Still, the period from the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 up to the creation of modern Greece in the early 19th century was left out of account and something similar happened to Greek Neo-Classicism as well as to Greek Modernism in the 20th century. The book is based on the conviction that what has been neglected and ignored up to our days is worth considering within a pluralistic account of the architecture of Greece. Thus, it offers a rich, multifaceted view of Greek architecture from the Cretan Palace of Knossos to the recently opened Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. The unsurpassed Periclean monuments on the Athenian Acropolis obtain the attention they deserve, but the works of Leo von Klenze, Friedrich Gartner or the brothers Hans Christian and Theophil Hansen and some other Classicists in the Greek capital are examined as well and so are the works of the Greek Rationalists of the period between the two World Wars. Special attention is given to the anonymous architecture of the islands as well as of mainland Greece. In order to be useful as a traveller’s guide the book is organized topographically. Insightful introductions to the various regions and cities provide the reader with historical background information.