Editing Ancient Greek architecture (section)

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{{Redirect|Greek architecture|architecture in [[modern Greece]]|Modern Greek architecture}}
{{Infobox art movement
| name = Ancient Greek architecture
|image = {{photomontage
|photo1a= Parthenon (30276156187).jpg
|photo2a= Erechtheum Acropolis Athens.jpg
|photo3a= Schema Saeulenordnungen.jpg
|size = 250
|color_border = #AAAAAA
|color = #F9F9F9
}}
| caption = Top: The [[Parthenon]] (460–406 BC); Centre: The [[Erechtheion]] (421–406 BC); Bottom: Illustration of [[Doric order|Doric]] (left three), [[Ionic order|Ionic]] (middle three) and [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] (right two) columns
| yearsactive = {{circa}} 900 BC–1st century AD
|countries = The [[Greece|Greek]] mainland, the [[Peloponnese]], the [[Aegean Islands]], [[Anatolia]], and in colonies
}}

'''Ancient Greek architecture''' came from the [[Greeks]], or Hellenes, whose [[Ancient Greece|culture]] flourished on the Greek mainland, the [[Peloponnese]], the [[Aegean Islands]], and in colonies in [[Asia Minor|Anatolia]] and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC.<ref name="BDFH" />

Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its [[Ancient Greek temple|temples]], many of which are found throughout the region, with the [[Parthenon]] regarded, now as in ancient times, as the prime example.<ref>{{harvnb|Lawrence|1957|pp=83–84}}.</ref> Most remains are very incomplete ruins, but a number survive substantially intact, mostly outside modern Greece. The second important type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is the [[Theatre of Ancient Greece#Characteristics of the buildings|open-air theatre]], with the earliest dating from around 525–480 BC. Other [[architectural form]]s that are still in evidence are the processional gateway (''[[propylon]]''), the public square (''[[agora]]'') surrounded by storied colonnade (''[[stoa]]''), the town council building (''[[bouleuterion]]''), the public monument, the monumental tomb (''[[mausoleum]]'') and the ''[[stadium]]''.

Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalised characteristics, both of structure and decoration. This is particularly so in the case of temples where each building appears to have been conceived as a sculptural entity within the landscape, most often raised on high ground so that the elegance of its proportions and the effects of light on its surfaces might be viewed from all angles.<ref name=HG2>{{harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2004|pp=126–132}}.</ref> [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] refers to "the plastic shape of the [Greek] temple [...] placed before us with a physical presence more intense, more alive than that of any later building".<ref>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1943|p=19}}.</ref>

The formal vocabulary of ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural style into three defined orders: the [[Doric Order]], the [[Ionic Order]] and the [[Corinthian Order]], was to have a profound effect on [[History of architecture|Western architecture]] of later periods. The [[Ancient Roman architecture|architecture of ancient Rome]] grew out of that of Greece and maintained its influence in Italy unbroken until the present day. From the [[Renaissance]], revivals of [[Classicism]] have kept alive not only the precise forms and ordered details of Greek architecture, but also its concept of architectural beauty based on balance and proportion. The successive styles of [[Neoclassical architecture]] and [[Greek Revival architecture]] followed and adapted ancient Greek styles closely.
{{History of Greek art}}