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archaeology, architecture, art, landscape, mountain...mainly about these countries: italy, france, spain, greece, turkey, syrie, lebanon, jordan, iran, uzbekistan, turkmenistan, georgia, armenia,pakistan, india, cambodia, thailand, egypt, libya, tunisia, algeria, morocco, bolivia, peru, usa, crete...
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Photos by the art historian Luca Mozzati: explanations and attributions highly accurate.
Countries currently represented: Greece, Crete, Rhodes, Jordan coming. Please wait (or contact us at photomozzati@fastwebnet.it) for other countries: work still in progress, daily additions.
Foto eseguite da uno storico dell'arte con didascalie altamente accurate. Presenti: Grecia, Rodi, Creta, Giordania
greece, mycenae, treasury of atreus - greece, mycenae, treasury of atreus, (aka tomb of atreus or tholos of atreus or tomb of agamennon), the dromos and the door about 1300-1250 bce it is the most impressive of the preserved mycenaean tholos tombs, situated at mycenae, on panagitsa hill. the walls of the chamber and the long dromos (36 m. long and 6 m. wide) are lined with conglomerate ashlar blocks. the tholos or round chamber (h. 13.20 m., diam. 14.20 m.) is roofed with a conical corbel vault, having the shape of an old-fashioned beehive. a distinctive feature of the tomb is the side-chamber hewn in the rock (6 x 6 x 5 m.). the rich sculptured and painted decoration that once ornamented the facade (10.50 x 6 m.) is not preserved on the monument. between two half-columns of green stone with carved motifs, the entrance (5.40 x 2.45-2.70 m.) had a wooden double door set in the inner side of the long stomion (5.40 m. long) which was sealed with accumulated stones. a decorated plaque was placed on the "relieving triangle" over the lintel, which was made of two enormous granite slabs (the inner measuring 8 x 5 x 1.50 m.). the "treasury of atreus" was constructed in ca. 1300 - 1250 b.c. and was in use for a long period, not precisely defined. the tholos is made of thirty-three superposed rings of conglomerate ashlar blocks, perfectly fitted so that each slightly projected beyond the edge of the one below it. the monument remained visible and had already been plundered when it was mentioned by pausanias (2nd century a.d.) as "treasury". for a while it was used as a refuge by shepherds whose fires blackened the walls of the tholos. in 1878 p. stamatakis cleared the dromos and the chamber. of the relief decoration of the facade only fragments detached by lord silgo and lord elgin have survived in various museums (munich, karlsruhe, berlin and especially, london and athens).

424308 - greece, mycenae, treasury of atreus

athens: view of the agora with the bouleuterion and the stoa of attalos ii - wiew of the agora, with the stoa of attalos ii (159-138 b.c., rebuilt in 1953-1956); in the background and in foreground the bouleuterion (403 b.c.) the agora was the heart of ancient athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural centre, and the seat of justice. the site was occupied without interruption in all periods of the city's history. it was used as a residential and burial area as early as the late neolithic period (3000 b.c.). early in the 6th century, in the time of solon, the agora became a public area. after a series of repairs and remodellings, it reached its final rectangular form in the 2nd century b.c. extensive building activity occured after the serious damage made by the persians in 480/79 b.c., by the romans in 89 b.c. and by the herulae in a.d. 267 while, after the slavic invasion in a.d. 580, it was gradually abandoned. from the byzantine period until after 1834, when athens became the capital of the independent greek state, the agora was again developed as a residential area.

421038 - athens: view of the agora with the bouleuterion and the stoa of attalos ii

Jordan, Al Qastal - Jordan Al-Qastal(Al-Badiya) The west side of the court VII-XIV century The palace is thought to have been built by the Umayyad Caliph Abd el-Malik ibn Marwan (685-705 AD), one of early Islam's greatest builders, who was also responsible for the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Qastal's early date also explains why it was completed and inhabited unlike some other Umayyad desert complexes in Jordan which were never finished. It is probably the oldest known Umayyad settlement in this area. It seems to have been used throughout the Umayyad period, and was probably used by the Calip Walid II (743-44 AD) while Mushatta was being built just five kilometres to the east. The Umayyad poet Kuthayyir 'Azza, who was at the court of Yazid II at Muwaqqar in 723 AD, mentioned it by the name "Qastal el-Balqa". The site was used well into the Abbasid period (750-969 AD), as we know from the tombstone inscriptions. After a brief abandonment, it was re-used as a less grandiose residential area during the Ayyubid/ Mamluke period (1171-1516 AD). Many of the poorly built but still standing walls within the central courtyard represent Ayyubid/Mamluke domestic structures.

P3070362 - Jordan, Al Qastal