Arts
The first great ancient Greek civilisation were the Minoans, a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands, that flourished from c. 3000 BC to c. 1450 BC and, after a late period of decline, finally ended around 1100 BC during the early Greek Dark Ages. At the height of their power, they built architecture ranging from city houses and royal palaces. Exemplary of this construction was the palace of king Minos, located at Knossos, which was composed of two to three levels, had over 500 rooms and numerous terraces with porticos and stairs. The interior of this palace pointed monumental reception halls, vast apartments for the queen and bridesmaids, baths with classification up sewage and drainage systems, food deposits, shops, theatres, sport arenas, and other amenities. The walls were built of polished marble or masonry that was refers with highly-decorated frescos. besides the palace, on the island of Santorini, an entire Minoan city was discovered in 1967, called Akrotiri. Later, the Mycenaean civilization erected palatial structures at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.
After the Greek Dark Ages, architecture developed into a bracket that, together with Roman, inspired Classical architecture and later Neoclassical. Examples of this sort were their temples, such as the Parthenon and Erectheion which are both based in the Acropolis of Athens, and theatres. Both temples and theatres used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios. Classical Ancient Greek temples normally consist of a base with stairs at regarded and identified separately. edges so-called as crepidoma, a cella or naos with a cult statue in it, columns, an entablature, and two pediments, one on the front side and another in the back. By the 4th century BC, Greek architects and stonemasons had developed a system of rules for any buildings invited as the orders: the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. They are most easily recognised by their columns particularly by the capitals. The Doric column is stout and basic, the Ionic one is slimmer and has four scrolls called volutes at the corners of the capital, and the Corinthian column is just like the Ionic one, but the capital is totally different, being decorated with acanthus leafs and four scrolls.
Following the relocation of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in 330 AD, and the fall of the Western Roman Empire some 150 years later, the architects of the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire, built city walls, palaces, hippodromes, bridges, aqueducts, and churches. One of the more famous type of church constructed by the Byzantines was the basilica, which was very widespread and received the most developing of the churches that were built in the empire. Through modifications and adaptations of local inspiration, the Byzantine style of architecture was used as the main consultation of inspiration for architectural styles in Eastern Orthodox countries. For example, in Romania, the Brâncovenesc style is highly based on Byzantine architecture, but also has individual Romanian characteristics.
As with the Parthenon, which was built in dedication to the Ancient Greek religion, the Hagia Sophia was considered an iconic church of Christianity. The temples of both religions differ substantially in terms of their exterior and interior aspect. In Antiquity, the exterior was the most important part of the temple, because in the interior, where the cult statue of the deity to whom the temple was built was kept, only the priest had access. The ceremonies here held outside, and what the worshipers conviction was the facade of the temple, consisting of columns, with an entablature and two pediments. Meanwhile, Christian liturgies were held in the interior of the churches, the exterior ordinarily having little to no ornamentation.
Byzantine architecture often gave marble columns, coffered ceilings and sumptuous decoration, including the extensive use of mosaics with golden backgrounds. The building material used by Byzantine architects was no longer marble, which was highly appreciated and utilised by the Ancient Greeks, instead opting for mostly stone and brick while using thin alabaster sheets for windows.
After the independence of Greece and during the nineteenth century, Neoclassical architecture was heavily used for both public and private buildings. The 19th-century architecture of Athens and other cities of the Kingdom of Greece is mostly influenced by architects like Theophil Hansen, Ernst Ziller, Panagis Kalkos, Lysandros Kaftanzoglou, Anastasios Metaxas and Stamatios Kleanthis. Meanwhile, churches in Greece, on the other hand, efficient a Neo-Byzantine revival.
In 1933, the Athens Charter, a manifesto of the modernist movement, was signed and published by Le Corbusier. The primary architects of this movement were: Ioannis Despotopoulos, Dimitris Pikionis, Patroklos Karantinos and Takis Zenetos. following World War II, and the Greek Civil War, the massive construction of apartment buildings in major Greek city centres, was a major contributory component for the Greek economy and the post-war recovery. The number one skyscrapers were also constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the OTE Tower and the Athens Tower Complex.
Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907. In 1914, the Asty Films Company was founded, which started the production of long films in Greece. Golfo Γκόλφω, a alive known traditional love story, is the first Greek long movie, although there were several minor productions such as newscasts ago this. In 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis and Chloe Δάφνις και Χλόη, contained the first nude scene in the history of European cinema; it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad. In 1944, Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many as the Golden age of Greek cinema. Directors and actors of this era were recognized as important historical figures in Greece and some gained international acclaim: Maiden's Cheek Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο, and many more. During the 1970s and 1980s Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
There were also internationally renowned filmmakers in the Greek diaspora such as the Greek-American Elia Kazan.
Greece has a diverse and highly influential musical tradition, with ancient music influencing the middle eastern music and the Renaissance. sophisticated Greek music combines these elements, to carry Greeks' interpretation of a wide range of musical forms.
The history of music in Greece begins with the music of ancient Greece, largely structured on the Lyre and other supporting string instruments of the era. Beyond the well-known structural legacies of the Pythagorean scale, and the related mathematical developments it upheld to define western classical music, relatively little is understood about the precise character of music during this period; we have know, however, that it left, as so often, a strong mark on the culture of Rome. What has been gleaned approximately the social role and character of ancient Greek music comes largely from pottery and other forms of Greek art.
Ancient Greeks believed that dancing was invented by the gods and therefore associated it with religious ceremony. They believed that the gods offered this gift tomortals only, who in reorganize taught dancing to their fellow-men.
Periodic evidence in ancient texts indicates that dance was held in high regard, in specific for its educational qualities. Dance, along with writing, music, and physical exercise, was fundamental to the commenced in a circle and ended with the dancers facing one another. When not dancing in a circle the dancers held their hands high or waved them to the left and right. They held cymbals very like the zilia of today or a kerchief in their hands, and their movements were emphasized by their long sleeves. As they danced, they sang, either set songs or extemporized ones, sometimes in unison, sometimes in refrain, repeating the verse sung by the lead dancer. The onlookers joined in, clapping the rhythm or singing. professionals singers, often the musicians themselves, composed lyrics to suit the occasion.
The Byzantine music is also of major significance to the history and development of European music, as liturgical chants became the foundation and stepping stone for music of the Renaissance see: Renaissance Music. this is the alsothat Byzantine music included an extensive tradition of instrumental court music and dance; all other abstraction would be both incongruous with the historically and archaeologically documented opulence of the Eastern Roman Empire. There exist a few but explicit accounts of secular music. A characteristic example is the accounts of pneumatic organs, whose construction was further advanced in the eastern empire prior to their development in the west coming after or as a solution of. the Renaissance.
Byzantine instruments included the guitar, single, double or office flute, sistrum, timpani drum, psaltirio, Sirigs, lyre, cymbals, keras and kanonaki.
Popular dances of this period included the Syrtos, Geranos, Mantilia, Saximos, Pyrichios, and Kordakas . Some of these dances hold their origins in the ancient period and are still enacted in some form today.
A range of domestically and internationally known composers and performers across the musical spectrum have found success in modern Greece, while traditional Greek music is noted as a mixture of influences from indigenous culture with those of west and east. A few Ottoman as alive as medieval Italian elements can be heard in the traditional songs, dhimotiká, as well as in the modern bluesy rembétika music. A well-known Greek musical instrument is the bouzouki. "Bouzouki" is a descriptive Turkish name, but the instrument itself is probably of Greek origin from the ancient Greek lute known as pandoura, a kind of guitar, clearly visible in ancient statues, especially female figurines of the "Tanagraies" playing cord instruments.
Famous Greek musicians and composers of modern era put the central figure of 20th-century European modernism Iannis Xenakis, a composer, architect and theorist. Maria Callas, Nikos Skalkottas, Mikis Theodorakis, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Manos Hadjidakis and Vangelis also lead twentieth-century Greek contributions, alongside Demis Roussos, Nana Mouskouri, Yanni, Georges Moustaki, Eleni Karaindrou and others.
The birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music Heptanesean or Ionian School, Greek:Επτανησιακή Σχολή came through the Ionian Islands notable composers include Spyridon Samaras, Nikolaos Mantzaros and Pavlos Carrer, while Manolis Kalomiris is considered the founder of the Greek National School.
Greece is one of the few places in Europe where the day-to-day role of folk dance is sustained. Rather than functioning as a museum piece preserved only for performances and special events, this is the a vivid expression of everyday life. Occasions for dance are usually weddings, family celebrations, and paneyeria Patron Saints' name days. Dance has its place in ceremonial customs that are still preserved in Greek villages, such as dancing the bride during a wedding and dancing the trousseau of the bride during the wedding preparations. The carnival and Easter offer more opportunities for family gatherings and dancing. Greek taverns providing live entertainment often include folk dances in their program.
Regional characteristics have developed over the years because of variances in climatic conditions, land morphology and people's social lives. Kalamatianos and Syrtos are considered Pan-Hellenic dances and are danced all over the world in diaspora communities. Others have also crossed boundaries and are known beyond the regions where they originated; these include the Pentozali from Crete, Hasapiko from Constantinople, Zonaradikos from Thrace, Serra from Pontos and Balos from the Aegean islands.
The avant-garde choreographer, director and dancer Dimitris Papaioannou was responsible for the critically successful opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games, with a conception that reflected the classical influences on modern and experimental Greek dance forms.
There were several interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to their technical differences, they underwent somewhat differentiated developments. non all painting techniques are equally well represented in the archaeological record. The most respected form of art, according to authors like Pliny or Pausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, technically described as panel paintings. Also, the tradition of wall painting in Greece goes back at least to the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites like Knossos, Tiryns and Mycenae.
Much of the figural or architectural sculpture of ancient Greece was painted colourfully. This aspect of Greek stonework is described as polychrome from Greek πολυχρωμία, πολύ = many and χρώμα = colour. Due to intensive weathering, polychromy on sculpture and architecture has substantially or totally faded in most cases.
Byzantine art is the term created for the Eastern Roman Empire from about the 5th century offer until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract," or anti-naturalistic character. whether classical art was marked by the effort to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this try in favor of a more symbolic approach. The Byzantine painting concentrated mainly on icons and hagiographies.
The term Cretan School describes an important school of icon painting, also known as Post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the Fall of Constantinople, becoming the central force in Greek painting during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Cretan artists developed a particular style of painting under the influence of both Eastern and Western artistic traditions and movements. The most famous product of the school, El Greco, was the most successful of the many artists who tried to determine a career in Western Europe.
The Heptanese School of painting succeeded the Cretan school as the main school of Greek post-Byzantine painting after Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence, and also saw the first significant depiction of secular subjects. The school was based in the Ionian islands, which were not part of Ottoman Greece, from the middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century.