Penn professor featured by NOVA

If Greek architecture is a riddle, producers of PBS' NOVA series think one Penn professor might have cracked it.

That's the reason, they say, for featuring Art History professor Lothar Haselberger as a primary expert in their "Secrets of the Parthenon" special, premiering Jan. 29.

The special, which aims to address some of the many mysteries about the building's ancient past, relies on Haselberger for clues about its construction, one that Greek designers have had difficulty replicating during their ongoing efforts to rebuild the landmark's devastated structure.

Gary Glassman, the main producer of the new episode, called the building "the most famous icon in western civilization."

Haselberger said he was surprised NOVA asked for his input because he has never done field research at the Parthenon itself, but Glassman said his research elsewhere constitutes a "major breakthrough" about how it might have been built.

Most notably, Glassman cited Haselberger's discovery of subtle, inscribed construction drawings at a temple in Didyma, Turkey as an indication that large-scale designs and sculptural techniques were common in Greek temple construction, not simply small scale blueprints.

Those large designs, Haselberger explained, made it easier to build the subtle curves and intricate carvings for which the Parthenon is so well known.

"The Didyma drawings may resolve the last secret of the Parthenon," he said.

According to Haselberger, the Temple of Didyma may have been one of the largest temples the Greeks ever built. He stressed the legitimacy of its lessons for the Parthenon, which, while a "pinnacle of achievement," he said, simply followed tried and true techniques of the time.

Glassman said Haselberger's additions fell in line with the show's goal of portraying the Greeks as an innovative culture in fields other than architecture.

The Greeks built "not just by calculation and thinking, but by laying things out at actual size," Haselberger explained.

The findings provide an alternative answer to theories perpetrated for years that Haselberger argues are unrealistic because they seek to link construction with design techniques not discovered until centuries after the Parthenon was built.

Haselberger said he was surprised that others are only now linking the Didyma drawings to other Greek buildings - he has been teaching the concepts depicted at Didyma to his introductory architecture history students at Penn for years.

So far, he said his theory has met "only mild criticism" by experts who disagree with his theories about the relationship between the Didyma drawings and the Parthenon.

Still, he is excited about the NOVA special's release.

According to Glassman, Haselberger's additions were essential to the legitimacy of the special.

"He made a major discovery and brought new knowledge to our understanding of ancient architecture," he said.

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