The standing temple
A reassembled marble building rather than foundations โ rare in the islands.
Zde โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Jean Housen โ CC BY-SA 4.0
**A small marble temple that has actually been rebuilt โ not foundations** โ standing alone in an olive field in the middle of Naxos, which makes it unlike any other archaeological site in the islands. It was built around **530 BC** from local **Naxian marble** and dedicated to **Demeter**, goddess of the harvest โ and its position among the island's most fertile land is not accidental. Its architectural importance exceeds its size: it was **among the first Greek buildings constructed entirely in marble**, and its techniques influenced the later temples of Athens โ it is counted among the ancestors of the **Parthenon** in its method of marble roofing. In the 6th century AD it was converted into a **Byzantine church**, which is what preserved its stone. โ It was partly reassembled in the 1990s from its own original pieces โ so you see **a standing building**, not squares of stone. โ And beside it is an excellent **small museum** explaining how it was built and how it was put back.
A reassembled marble building rather than foundations โ rare in the islands.
Alone in an olive field amid the most fertile land on Naxos.
Explains the marble construction and how the temple was put back together.
Gyroula, Sangri, 84300 Naxos, Greece
**Because of one technique: the marble roof โ a Naxian innovation that travelled to Athens.** โ **The problem it solved**: early Greek temples were roofed with **clay tiles** on a timber frame โ cheap, but heavy, needing maintenance, and liable to burn. โ **The Naxian solution**: since Naxos is a **marble island** with quarries close by, its builders tried cutting **thin, near-translucent marble slabs** and using them **as roof tiles**. The result was a roof that was **permanent and would not burn**, โ **and that let a dim light through** โ so the sanctuary was lit by filtered natural light, a deliberate and remarkable effect. โ **The transmission to Athens**: the technique โ and the craftsmen with it โ was exported to other sites, **and appears later in the temples of Athens and finally in the Parthenon**, which also used marble tiles. โ **So the ancestry is technical rather than formal**: the Parthenon is far larger and a century later, but **its method of roofing began on islands like this one**.
**Because it is the only place in the islands where you see a standing temple rather than foundations.** โ **The general problem with Greek sites**: most are **squares of stone on the ground** that need imagination and a plan to read. After three or four of them a visitor โ children especially โ feels they have seen the same thing repeatedly. โ **Here is the exception**: the temple was partly reassembled in the 1990s **from its own original pieces**, recovered on site and from the walls of the Byzantine church built over it. So you see **standing walls, columns and lintels** at real scale โ and understand at once what a Greek temple is. โ **The small museum completes it**: it explains **how** each stone's position was determined, and displays the translucent marble roof slabs. โ **The cost is trivial**: โฌ3, 45 minutes, **and it is on your way** to the inland villages. โ **The one condition**: check its hours first.
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