
"The Acropolis of Pergamon, reconstructed after the excavations to date." Painting by the German architect and painter Friedrich von Thiersch (1852-1921), February 1882.
An imaginative attempt to reconstruct the appearance of the Pergamon Acropolis in antiquity, based on the results of the German-led archaeological excavations. Viewed from the south, in the foreground
is the precinct of the Great Altar of Zeus, and behind it is the Sanctuary of Athena Nikephoros.
Not shown, for example, is the Upper Agora, which stood in front (south) of the Great Altar precinct.
Thiersch visited Pergamon in 1881 and was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II to plan the reconstruction of the Great Altar in Berlin. The painting hung for many years in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. It was
published by Thiersch in 1883 in his short monograph about the Pergamon acropolis:
Friedrich von Thiersch, Die Königsburg von Pergamon: ein Bild aus der griechischen Vorzeit.
Verlag von J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart, 1883. At Heidelberg University Digital Library. |