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In the 5th century B.C., the Parthenon was the pinnacle of civilization. Athens in the age of Pericles reached new heights in art, architecture, philosophy and literature. Nothing embodied those achievements more perfectly than this temple to the goddess Athena. Fast forward to the 21st century: a team of 62 architects, civil engineers and stone cutters are piecing together the broken structure. In the process, they are learning humbling lessons in engineering and craftsmanship from the builders who worked here two and a half millennia ago. "It's a school for us," says Nikos Toganidis, chief architect of the Parthenon restoration project. "Every day we learn something from the ancients — their secrets, how they did what they did, the perfection of their construction. We cannot do the same today."
That any of the Parthenon is still standing after so many centuries of war, invasions and devastating fires is proof enough of its solid construction. In fact, it remained basically intact until 1687, when a Venetian cannonball hit a Turkish powder magazine inside the temple and literally blew the roof off. Britain's Lord Elgin did grievous damage in the early 1800s by hacking off the friezes and later selling them to the British Museum. An unfortunate restoration in the 1930s reinforced the columns with iron that rusted and must now be replaced with titanium.
The current project, which began in 1984 and should be completed by 2006, seeks to repair and restore the structure rather than fully rebuild it. The interior of the temple, off limits to tourists, is full of cranes, machines, blocks of marble and the sound of traditional stone cutters at work. Alexander Hoysakos, 30, is proud to be among them. "Today, there are machines and modern technologies," he says, laying down his tools. "But a machine never makes the same as the hand. The ancient people, they worked like supermen. So perfect. Maybe we're the last people to do this kind of work." Why does he do it? "Because if you don't have the past, you don't have the future. This place was a symbol for the ancient people, and it's a symbol for us. In my blood, I still have some drops from the old Athenians." And he's still learning from them.
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