Gateways To Art Summary

The text “Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts”, introduces and discusses a lot of information that has to do with spirituality and religious art. Many architectural works that have been created as an art form also function as sacred spaces. It should be known that although there are many sacred spaces across different belief systems, that they actually have many architectural features in common. In Greece, we have the Parthenon and the Acropolis. Besides the Greeks not only worshipping gods, they also value humanity just as much. Their gods are idealized as beautiful beings but they looked like actual humans and had their own weaknesses. Their “idealized” human form represented high intellectual and moral goals and their architecture was based on mathematical systems of proportion similar to the ones applied to the human form. The pride in their own intellectual and physical achievements is clearly evident in the art that the Greeks produced (pg. 379). Every city in Greece had its own government and was protected by its own god. Each had their own acropolis, which is a “complex of buildings on the highest point in the city that was both a fortress and a religious center, …show more content…
It was made of glistening white marble and its design was thought to epitomize ideal proportions (pg. 381). Up until 1687, the Parthenon had a timber roof covered with marble tiles but was destroyed when Turkish army munitions stored there exploded. Also while it was first made, the structure was covered with sculptures that were painted in red, yellow, and blue just like the building was (pg. 381). In multiple spots, there were statues of Athena in order for the Greeks to receive offerings and prayer. The interior space was decorated with an enormous 38-foot tall statue of the goddess that was made of gold and ivory (pg.