Following on from the topic of the Caryatids from the last article I posted, this article looks at how the whole idea of the Caryatids originated from & how they have been perceived through the ages.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Six headstrong women confidently raise the roof
Monday October 8, 2012 (01:36)
By Camille Paglia*

When is the burden of the gods lighter than air? Six stately young women stand like sentinels on a marble parapet atop the Athenian Acropolis. They are gazing at the Parthenon, the great temple of Athena that, even in its present ruin, is one of the marvels of the world.

Casual and relaxed, the women balance a heavy stone roof on their heads. It is a remarkable display of female power: voluptuous curves combined with massive, muscular strength.
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Now that the Caryatids are in the New Acropolis Museum, it is much easier to see all sides of them than it once was. I have often noticed that while from a distance they all appear to be almost identical, if you look closely at them there are differences in their hairstyles. Professor Katherine Schwab at the University of Fairfield has put extensive research into their hairstyles, trying to determine whether they are based on real styles of the day, or just a fanciful artistic interpretation.

You can view more details of the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, including photos at Fairfield University’s website.

From:
Greenwich Citizen

Grecian formula: Archeologist unravels the ancient hairdos of the Caryatids
Published 2:58 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Professor Katherine “Kathy” Schwab is fixated on hair. Not just any hair mind you. No, Schwab, who teaches Art History at Fairfield University, is fascinated by the long, wavy, thick, textured hair sported by the young women of ancient Greece.

Yes, ancient Greece.

Schwab told a group of members and guests of the Greenwich Archeological Associates at the Bruce Museum recently just how this hair fixation began during a regular study trip to Athens a few years ago.
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Quite aside from all the other ethical issues about purchasing ancient artefacts on the black market at bargain prices, there is also a high chance, that you might not get exactly what you thought you were paying for. Quite why people think that someone who would loot ancient sites is likely to be true to their word, in what they claim something is is another matter.

One also has to ask, how someone expected to pass off as legitimate, exact copies of works from a major museum.

From:
BBC News

3 April 2012 Last updated at 16:23
‘Ancient’ Greek statue found in sheep pen is fake

An “ancient” Greek statue found in a sheep pen north-west of Athens last week has now been deemed a fake.

At first, archaeologists at Greece’s Culture ministry thought the figure of a woman dated from the 6th century BC.
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Research by Art Historian Katherine Schwab, looks at whether the hairstyles of the Caryatids from the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens could be recreated today. A DVD is now available that documents this project.

From:
PR Web

Documentary Now Available of Ancient Caryatid Hairstyles Being Brought to Life

A DVD is now available that documents the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, directed by Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history at Fairfield University, that investigates whether elaborate female coiffures seen among the Erechtheion marble Caryatids, or maidens, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens could actually be replicated on women today. The 15-minute, fast-paced DVD follows six female students as they are transformed in appearance from modern 21st century women to elegant young women of ancient Greece.

Fairfield, Conn. (Vocus/PRWEB ) April 13, 2010 — A DVD is now available that documents the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, directed by Dr. Katherine Schwab, associate professor of art history at Fairfield University, that investigates whether elaborate female coiffures seen among the Erechtheion marble Caryatids, or maidens, at the Acropolis Museum in Athens could actually be replicated on women today. The 15-minute, fast-paced DVD follows six female students as their long hair is twisted and curled in intricate patterns (which in real time took hours) and records their reactions as they are transformed in appearance from modern 21st century women to elegant young women of ancient Greece. Produced by Christopher McGloin and Daniel Kole of the Media Center, with music arranged by Dr. Laura Nash, Program Director of Music, the DVD was funded by a grant from the University’s Faculty Research Committee and the Classical Studies Program. A webpage about the project includes a clip and online purchase of the DVD at www.fairfield.edu/caryatid.
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Few who have been inside the completed New Acropolis Museum would be able to argue that the sculptures could be equally well displayed in any other location outside Athens. Certainly, they may raise other arguments, such as the legalities of ownership, or how the sculptures supposedly form the basis for another institution, but the argument that they are better displayed elsewhere should now be considered irreparably null & void. Nowhere else is it possible to see the sculptures & the building that they were once an integral part of in the same glance. The pattern of light & shadows of the sculptures is replicated, as is the exact original spatial arrangement of them. Only in Athens is it possible to get a tru understanding of the scale & significance of the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
New York Times

Elgin Marble Argument in a New Light
By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN
Published: June 23, 2009

ATHENS — Not long before the new Acropolis Museum opened last weekend, the writer Christopher Hitchens hailed in this newspaper what he called the death of an argument.

Britain used to say that Athens had no adequate place to put the Elgin Marbles, the more than half of the Parthenon frieze, metopes and pediments that Lord Elgin spirited off when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire two centuries ago. Since 1816 they have been prizes of the British Museum. Meanwhile, Greeks had to make do with the leftovers, housed in a ramshackle museum built in 1874.
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As a high precision modern restoration project using the latest technology, the Acropolis Restoration project that has been running for the last 30 years must be without parallel. Some of the work was needed to negate previous problematic restoration works on the site, but much of it was necessary purely to stabilise the buildings & re-incorporate new fragments that had been excavated from the site.

From:
Deutsche Presse Agentur

2,350 tons of marble restored, replaced for Acropolis restoration
Europe News
May 29, 2009, 13:32 GMT

Athens – Some 2,350 tons of marble were restored or replaced over the past three decades for the massive project to restore the ancient Acropolis monuments, reports said Friday.

Maria Ioannidou, a senior Culture Ministry official was quoted by the Greek daily Kathimerini as saying more than 1,000 architects and archaeologists restored or replaced a total of 2,350 tons of marble during the restoration project.
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Some parts of the restoration works on the Acropolis will be completed in the coming months, allowing visitors their first sight of parts of the building for some years without scaffolding in the foreground. As part of the project, a virtual reality presentation on the history of the restoration work is planned for the New Acropolis Museum, so that visitors can get a better understanding of what is one of the most complex projects of its kind ever undertaken.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/31/2008
Acropolis restoration works

Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis on Thursday inspected works for the restoration of the Athens Acropolis, after which he praised the effort underway.

“The work to preserve and highlight the monuments provides a unique experience for visitors to the Sacred Rock, since a more comprehensive image of the Acropolis is formed that allows the monuments to be better recognised and understood,” he said.
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Following the use of laser cleaning techniques on the Greek Parthenon Sculptures, similar techniques are now going to be used on some of the buildings on the Acropolis site. The restoration of the Acropolis is probably the most technically advanced large scale projects of its type anywhere in the world – showing that although mistakes may have been made in the past, Greece is now very serious about preserving its most important monument.

From:
International Herald Tribune

Greek scientists use lasers to clean Acropolis
Reuters
Published: October 17, 2008
By Deborah Kyvrikosaios

In the past two and a half thousand years, the temples of the Acropolis have suffered fire, bombing and earthquake. Now, scientists are trying to save them from a new modern enemy: pollution.

Standing on a hilltop at the centre of Athens, a city of 4 million people, the Acropolis’ elaborately sculptured stones have fallen prey to a film of black crust from car exhaust fumes, industrial pollution, acid rain and fires.
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