A Bit About The Porch of Maidens

The Caryatids or what is popularly known as the Porch of the Maidens is located on the southwest side of the Erechtheum. The Erechtheum is an antique and renowned Greek temple which is situated in Athens. The Caryatids or maidens were instrumental in holding the columns and an impressive thing about the whole sculpture was the folding of their robes are exactly same like the fluting found in the columns. This temple was supposed to be replaced with the Outdated Athena temple that was built by Persians. Of course as time has passed the marble had needed to be maintained and restored, check out this, for an amazing company who restore antiques.

The Porches

The porches are an integral part of the temple. The east and north porches represent and signify Ionic form. These porches were constructed with ionic orders which are supposed to be more decorative and complicated than the Doric order. These columns were built from the bottom and they ended in spiral capitols. On the southern side of the temple facing the parthnon's we can find columns shaped as six female figures which are instrumental in supporting the porch and that is the reason it is known as the porch of maidens. It is also considered as the most important feature of the Erechtheion as it looks very impressive with the women supporting from roof to floor.

The Porch Of Maidens

The posture of the maidens is quite enchanting with them standing on one leg whereas the other one is slightly bent at the knee and supporting itself on the rear side of the foot.The whole alluring posture gives the maidens not only an effortless look but also a sense of relaxed charm and grace. Out of the total six maidens three are shown standing on the left hand side while the other three are on the right hand side and they seem to be giving a sense of rhythm and symmetry to the porch. The outfit that they are wearing seems to be a dress which falls vertically and the hair is tied up loosely. The right touch of knots around the neck makes the maidens appear human and natural.

The classic Greek architecture is represented fully in the porch of maidens and the construction dates back to 405 BCE and 421BCE. Denoting the sense of grace, support and stability there is a lot to learn from these ancient sculptures. The architecture is definitely to be seen once in the lifetime.

Loaded with mystery, beauty and myths with the reminiscences of the Greek culture combined with the remnants of varied amendments, the Erechtheion is a distinctive product of the rich creativeness influenced by the primeval occupants of the Polis.