BOETTICHER, Adolf

Adolf Boetticher (1842-1901), architect, art critic and archaeologist, was born in Blumberg (Barnim) and studied in Berlin. From 1875 to 1877 he directed archaeological excavations in Greece. During his career, he was editor of the periodical "Wochenblatt für Architekten und Ingenieure" and head of the Registry of Historical Buildings and Art Monuments of East Prussia. In 1891 he was promoted to State Keeper and in continuation was appointed Conservator of Monuments for the province. His oeuvre includes an eight-volume digest on the buildings and monuments of East Prussia, published between 1892 and 1898.Boetticher arrived in Athens in the summer of 1862, together with architects G.C. Gropius and Styrsck from Berlin, T. Hansen from Vienna, as well the archaeologist Fischer, the philologist Schrubring and Professor E. Curtius.

The present work, a historical-archaeological study of the Acropolis of Athens, is illustrated by one hundred and thirty-two in-text drawings and thirty-six plates. As Boetticher states in his introduction, he aimed to offer a comprehensible overview of the monument, addressed both to the scientific community and the general reading public. The images are accompanied by texts on the history of the Acropolis into Roman times, written by Κ. Βoetticher, E. Curtius, A. Michaelis, V. Koehler, E. Waschsmuth, R. Bohn, L. Julius, W. Dörpfeld, A. Trendelenburg, L. von Sybel, A. Milchhöer and others. In his treatise, Boetticher claims that the "entasis" (swelling) of the Parthenon's columns was due to the subsidence of the Piraeus stone of the foundations! He was author of a similar work on ancient Olympia, as well as of an itinerary to the Peloponnese, Aegina and Eleusis.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou

TRAVELOGUES

TRAVELLERS' VIEWS

Places – Monuments – People

Southeastern Europe – Eastern Mediterranean

Greece – Asia Minor – Southern Italy

15^th - 20^th century