If We Built It Today (2019–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - Code of the Parthenon - full transcript
[narrator] This iconic temple is one of
the most recognized buildings in the world.
[John] It's really a high
point in terms of materials,
geometry, construction, and beauty.
[narrator] And yet more than
2,000 years after completion
engineers are still marveling at the
sophisticated architectural techniques
used to construct this enduring
symbol of ancient Greece.
But with today's technology
could we out build the Greeks?
To rebuild the Parthenon
is a fun, fantastic idea.
It's a huge undertaking so it's a vast
investment of money, time and personnel.
If we were to rebuild the Parthenon
today, I think where would we put it?
[narrator] Here's the plan, we're
rounding up the best architects
and the newest modern materials
to build the next Parthenon.
Even more impressive, lavish,
enormous and built to last.
The golden ratio appears many
different places in the Parthenon.
If understood and if applied it
can kind of be like a secret weapon.
[narrator] Imagine the world's
greatest wonders... re-imagined.
We are wondering how long would it take?
How much would it cost? How
many workers would we need?
Could we even do it if we built it today.
Athens, the capitol of Greece
and home to 3 million people.
Rising above this modern
metropolis is the Parthenon.
Perched atop of the acropolis.
[John] It really symbolizes
achievements not only
in architecture but also
economics, mathematics,
philosophy, religion, democracy.
When you look at it, you get a
sense of timelessness and eternity.
[narrator] And if you think
the Parthenon looks familiar,
that's because its design has inspired
numerous adaptations over the last 2000 years.
The Parthenon has had a huge influence
on architecture all over the world.
[narrator] Today, we can see
the Parthenon's enduring influence
in the facades of banks, museums,
universities and government buildings
all over Washington DC.
It's become known as the blueprint
for any building trying to convey wealth
culture and power.
The Parthenon is the
most perfect Greek temple.
[narrator] Construction of the
Parthenon began in 447 BC.
And was built from 16,500 pieces of stone.
Constructed on a limestone base,
it had 69 marble columns,
each weighing about the
same as two humpback whales.
It's footprint was a bit
smaller than a football field
with the interior chamber or cellar
big enough to park seven 18 wheelers.
Directed by Pericles the Parthenon's
original architect built the temple
as a tribute to the city's
patron deity, Athena.
Inside the Parthenon was a
statue made out of gold and ivory
and if you were to open the doors and pass
light in on her shoe would have just gleamed.
[narrator] For the people of Athens
the Parthenon represent
much more than a shrine.
It was a declaration of power.
Pericles came up with this great scheme,
this building program, to
beautify the city of Athens.
To make the physical city
match her economic power,
her political power and
her diplomatic power.
[John] It was also a place of
cultural, artistic importance,
and a side of banking and a
container of wealth for ancient Athens.
The Parthenon symbolizes the greatest
achievement of Greek architecture.
And so when the Athenians went to build
the Parthenon they wanted to be the best.
[narrator] But now after surviving
wars, earthquakes and fires
this monumental temple is due for some TLC.
Archaeologist Andriani
Bakendritsu is part of a team
undertaking a massive
restoration of the Parthenon.
So far it's taken nearly 50
years and over 100 million dollars
and it's still under construction.
But seven million people
visit the Parthenon each year
and archaeologists like
Andriani are committed
to restoring its original grandeur.
[Andriani] It is the highest expression
of the classic elithos in Greek art.
And it also expresses the political,
economical and artistic peak of Athens.
[narrator] So now we're wondering,
what if we built our own
modern day Parthenon.
Could we recreate the most
beautiful building in the world?
The meaning of this monument, this temple
could be understood only though the era
in which it was built.
And we could never truly
recreate what was done in antiquity.
[narrator] Still today brilliant minds
wonder if we can use numbers and geometry
to quantify beauty.
This is not only a great work of architecture,
it's also a great work of mathematics.
The Parthenon is said to be
the most mathematically perfect
building or temple ever constructed.
The proportions that appear in it
use many, many different numbers.
[narrator] Experts believe the Greeks
paid enormous attention to geometry
and the way humans
perceive design and proportion.
But we're curious, can beauty
truly be defined by numbers?
Antiquities expert, Emily Varto believes
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
[Emily] This is an idea that the Parthenon is
so beautiful, and pleasing to the human eye
that it must follow one of
these kind of universal principals
of beauty and proportion.
Well, it doesn't have to follow
a universal standard of beauty
to be a thing of beauty.
[narrator] But Justin Shubow
trusts the Greek's math.
Well, the Parthenon is one of the
great monuments of Western civilization
and indeed of world history.
[narrator] Justin advocates for
a return to classical Greek style
in all US government building architecture.
[Justin] The Parthenon is a
model that has inspired buildings
throughout the centuries
creating beauty, grandeur and
making the world a better place to live.
And that's one reason why it has been
so popular in different places and times.
[narrator] The ancient Greeks
planned to build a structure
that would stand for centuries.
We need our strategy to rival the
Greeks and stand the test of time.
We'd want our Parthenon
to be larger, tougher,
and more lavish than ever before.
A building with staying power.
So, can we use the ancient Greek
principles of mathematics and geometry
to construct the most beautiful
building in over 2,000 years?
There are certain sizes
and shapes of buildings
that are inherently appealing
given our human nature.
[Emily] I think there is a
danger in setting up a structure
like the Parthenon as an ideal of beauty.
Rebuilding the Parthenon
today would be incredibly difficult.
The quality of the stone, the craftsmanship
the labor required to move the stones.
And yet it could be possible as a
brute force exercise in construction.
[narrator] But what are we gonna
build it out of? How long will it take?
How much will it cost?
And will it be worth the investment?
It's a monumental job.
Lining up all the pieces,
parts and people we'd need.
If we built it today.
We're imagining how
we'd build a new Parthenon.
One that'd leave the original
one in Athens in the dust.
But before we figure out how we'd build
it we need to figure out why we'd build it.
When the ancient Greeks created
their Parthenon the answer was simple.
They needed to rebuild the old one.
The center of the city stayed and
particularly the acropolis had been sacked
earlier in the century
by a Persian invasion.
And it had remained unbuilt, unrenovated.
[narrator] In 480 BC the
Persian army invades Athens,
part of an empire expansion mission
reeking havoc on ancient Greece.
So, the Greek cities, they need to
ally themselves against the Persians.
[narrator] Decades of war ensued
with the Athenians leading the charge.
Athens was able to position herself
as the champion of Greek freedom,
of the great protector against
the tyranny of the Persians.
[narrator] United, the Greek city states
defeat the invading Persian Empire.
And so in the aftermath of those wars,
Athens was able to turn what was initially
a league of free and willing
Greek city states into and empire
forcing member states to join or to remain,
and eventually moving the treasury
of that free league to Athens itself.
[Myles] The Athenians demand
basically tribute payments
from these city states and they
spend that money pretty freely.
And the city expands enormously in size.
[narrator] Athenian authorities
used their new fund to rebuild
the temple complex on the acropolis.
With the new Parthenon as its centerpiece.
Today we don't build
temples worshiping Greek gods
but we do build government
buildings all the time.
Some experts believe these
buildings lack any sense of style.
So many of the government building
that were built after World War II
are just obviously ugly.
One of the most notorious building in
the United States is Boston's City Hall.
When it was built the
leading modernist architect,
Philip Johnson said
"I love it, it's so ugly".
These are building that do
not inspire faith in our republic.
[narrator] But are our modern buildings
really inherently inferior
to the ancient Greeks?
There is this conceit,
well, this is traditional,
and it's associated with power and
status and privilege and government.
So it must be the most
perfect architecture there is.
[narrator] For most of us beauty
really is in the eye of the beholder.
But for guys like Gary, it's all in math.
Gary Meisner is a writer
and software developer
obsessed with the golden ratio... or Phi,
an ancient Greek formula
discovered by Euclid,
the forefather of geometry.
Euclid defined the golden ratio as follows.
A line is said to be cut
into extreme and mean ratio
when the length of the entire
line to the larger segment
is the same as the larger
segment to the small segment.
It's a lot of words but it's
really not that complicated.
It's just a matter of dividing
a line at the one unique point
where the ratios are all consistent.
There are certain elements of
design that use position and proportion.
And when the golden
ratio is used in those cases
you end up with a, kind of, a full-proof
way of achieving beauty and aesthetics.
[narrator] So if our mission
is to build our new Parthenon
according to the golden ratio principals
we'll want that mission to
guide every decision we make.
And, if we're gonna build
a structure to rival the one
the ancient Greek built 2000 years ago,
we're gonna need the perfect location
to showcase our modern world wonder.
Wherever you are in Athens,
you catch a vantage of the
Parthenon on the acropolis.
And it stops you in your tracks.
[narrator] To design it we're gonna
need to find the right materials.
Like is it Italian marble,
is it Greek marble,
is it Tennessee marble,
which marble do we use?
[narrator] We'll also need to figure
out what size of workforce we'll need,
how long it'll take, and how
much this whole thing's gonna cost?
Trying to recreate the Parthenon
today would be phenomenally expensive.
[narrator] But first things
first, we need to decide...
where we're going to build our Parthenon?
Should be build next to the original
one on the acropolis in Athens?
Athens is a big bustling
center set in a deep basin
between a series of mountains.
And at the center of this basin the acropolis
rises up like a rock out of the middle.
The prominent location of the acropolis
above the city of Athens makes
it a natural place for a temple.
[narrator] But even if we got
permission to build on the acropolis
now doesn't seem like the right time to
build a new Parthenon in that location.
[Myles] There's a lot of work
going on on the Parthenon today
and it's actually in response to
the reconstructing
conservation of the Parthenon
in the 1920's by a guy named Balanos.
So he looked at the Parthenon which
at that point was just basically a ruin.
So what he decided was he was going to
piece together all of the columns he found
and put back together the complete
colonnade on the exterior of the temple.
And he then used iron bars
to hold everything together.
Overtime, as we know iron rusts.
It rusts and expands, and it
started splitting open the columns
and it started to collapse again.
So the Greek government
made a conscious effort
to come up with a conservation plan.
And that process is
actually continuing today.
[narrator] It sounds to us like one
Parthenon is all the acropolis can handle.
So, let's look elsewhere.
How about in Washington DC?
It's already home to the
country's most extensive collection
of Greek inspired architecture.
[Justin] At the founding
of the United States
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
consciously chose the classical tradition
for the design of Washington DC
and its core buildings of government.
The Parthenon is a model
that has inspired some of the
iconic buildings in Washington DC
such as the US Supreme Court
and the Lincoln memorial behind me.
[narrator] But in recent years
DC's abandoned its classical roots.
[Justin] Since the 1990s
only something like 20%
of federal buildings have
been classical or traditional.
[narrator] Now all that may be changing.
The White House is considering
passing an Executive Order
that would reorient federal architecture
in a classical and traditional direction.
[narrator] If we built
our new Parthenon here
we could help lead an architectural
renaissance in our nation's capitol.
All right, we've got our
location Washington DC it is.
[narrator] But we still gotta
figure out what it's gonna look like.
What should we build it out of?
How do we make it last 2,000 years?
And how much is this
whole thing... gonna cost?
We're imagining what it would
take to build our very own Parthenon.
Bigger and better than the
famous Parthenon in Athens.
Now that we've decide on
our location, in Washington DC,
we'll need to figure out how we build it.
Well, turns out we're not the
first ones to pose that question.
We are at the Nashville
Parthenon which is the only
full sized detailed recreation of
the ancient Parthenon in the world.
It was built here in 1897
as the art building for the Tennessee
Centennial Exposition and it was
Nashville's contribution to
the fair because Nashville
had the nickname Athens of the South.
[narrator] Nashville's Parthenon is
a meticulously researched attempt
to imagine what the original
would have looked like in its prime.
So it's an excellent place
for us to start figuring out
what our Parthenon will look like.
From the outside Nashville's
Parthenon is a near perfect
recreation of the classical Greek temple.
Complete with its decorative
banner known as the frieze.
The frieze on the outside which is
alternating squares of high-relief sculpture
with something that looks like
a Roman numeral three kind of,
those are the metopes and triglyphs.
[narrator] Along the frieze triglyphs
separate the more decorative metopes.
Sculptural frieze frames used to
tell stories from Greek mythology.
In its basic style the
Parthenon is a Doric temple.
So there were three orders
of classical architecture
that go... As you go from plain to fancy,
you go Doric, ionic and Corinthian.
[narrator] If that's all Greek
to you, here's what it means.
The architectural history of ancient Greece
is split into three periods or orders.
You can tell what order the temple
belongs to just by looking at its columns.
First came the Doric order,
relatively simple columns
with vertical grooves called flutes.
Next, the ionic order, similar
columns but set upon bases
with scroll sculptures
on top known as a capitol.
Finally in the Corinthian order
columns again are set upon a base
but the capitol features more
elaborate sculptural details.
The Nashville recreation
shows that from the outside
the Parthenon's columns
are clearly of the Doric order.
But inside is a different story.
The building in its overall style is Doric,
the simplest and plainest of the three
orders of classical architecture.
But the columns in here
are not Doric, they are ionic.
[narrator] The Nashville
Parthenon even includes
a recreation of the Athena statue
that once dominated the
interior of the original Parthenon.
Between the Nashville recreation
and the Acropolis restoration
we've got plenty of instruction on
what our Greek temple should look like.
Okay, we're almost ready to design
our perfect Parthenon recreation.
But first we need to figure out if and
how the Parthenon's design secrets
lie in its use of the golden ratio.
The Parthenon is
approximately 98 feet by 230 feet.
Which is not a golden ratio.
So, how much does the golden ratio actually
apply to the Parthenon's design secrets?
If you pay attention to the measurements
which archaeologists have done
within the last 20 or so years and beyond,
you'll notice that the
proportions is four to nine,
or nine to four. So I think
there is a secret in the ratio
it's just that it's a different ratio.
[narrator] Just like art has
fundamentally changed over the centuries
architecture has changed as well.
And well some contemporary
architects believe the golden ratio
has become less important over time,
other experts like Gary Meisner
think it's the most useful
framework for defining beauty.
He's even developed software
based entirely on the concept.
[Gary] What the software does it's
transparent overlay that appears on the screen
provides a set of grids that
are in golden ratio proportions.
Here I've applied a golden
rectangle to the face of the Parthenon
going from where the roof
line would be projected to be
to the bottom of the
second set of steps here.
So this is a golden rectangle that frames
the Parthenon, but in addition to that
the golden ratio of the height
defines the top of the columns.
[narrator] It's clear for Gary and
the Greeks, beauty is in the math.
But the ancients also knew that
looks can sometimes be deceiving.
Architects understood that
the human eye compensates
when it sees something
that is perfectly rectilinear
and it doesn't see it as rectilinear.
[Myles] So if you were to
look at it you would notice that
the columns on the building
are not perfectly perpendicular
to the ground, they tilt inwards slightly.
That the columns themselves
are not straight up and down.
In fact they are slightly
fatter in the middle,
and they get thinner on the bottom and top.
And also the building is
curved slightly in the center.
[narrator] These subtle manipulations
are known as optical refinements.
Design elements meant to counter
the tendency of human perception
to see a curve
when two straight lines run parallel
caused by the curvature of our eyes.
These ancient architects
had to basically build a building
for the human eye and the human mind.
[narrator] Armed with the right
ratios and optical refinements,
we're finally ready to
settle on a design plan.
We'll build a perfect
homage to the Parthenon,
just like the one they did in Nashville.
But how are we gonna make our
Parthenon look as good as the original?
What material should we use to build it?
How many people will it take?
And how much will this whole thing cost?
We're imagining how we'd
build a modern day Parthenon
bigger and better than
the original in Athens.
And one that won't fall
to ruins in 2,000 years.
We've already decided on a location,
our nation's capital, Washington DC.
We'll design it using the same
proportion the ancient Greeks used
and apply the principals
of the golden ratio.
But now we're trying to figure
out what materials should we use?
Our search brings us back to Washington DC
where the grandest examples of American
monumental stone architecture can be found.
[Justin] The mall came to
include the Lincoln Memorial
which is inspired by a Greek temple.
Also the Supreme Court building
which is also classical in design.
When you see some of the
buildings on the National Mall
it feels like they have been there
forever, they are not a matter of fashion.
[narrator] That's because
for thousands of years
if you were building something to last
stone was the material of choice.
But halfway through the 20th century
the tides of architectural
taste turned in Washington DC.
[Justin] Starting after
World War II however,
the government abandoned classicism.
Government style became
the international style,
and also Brutalism.
[Justin] Brutalism is a style of
architecture that's characterized by imposing
large scale buildings with rigid geometric
designs made entirely of concrete.
In the 60's we started getting
concrete grids in Washington DC,
these large harsh, sterile buildings
that are worlds apart from
prior classical tradition.
[narrator] We're already copying
the design of the Parthenon,
maybe we can use the
same building materials, too.
So what was the original Parthenon made of?
It was built entirely of pentelic marble,
so marble from Mount Pentelicon.
Normally, a temple would
be built out of limestone
and then its sculptures
might be done in marble
and put on to the structure.
The Athenians built the whole thing out
of marble, it's really quite a statement.
[narrator] The Parthenon was constructed
from approximately 22,000 tons of marble.
Imagine how much that would cost us
if we ordered our marble from Athens.
So what are our options?
Well, fortunately in Nashville we
found a guy with some rock solid advice.
Marble is wonderful to work with
because it's sort of a luscious material.
[narrator] Alan Lequire is
a world renowned sculptor
with decades of carving experience.
He's giving us the scoop on
what material architects used
to build the Nashville Parthenon.
The Parthenon in Nashville has
Tennessee gray marble for its floor.
They weren't able to get pentelic marble
but they were able to get Tennessee marble
and it's actually a really lovely stone.
[narrator] Luckily for us,
Tennessee marble can be found
right here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
It's nicknamed the Marble
City because of the stone's
historical importance to the local economy.
And... it's also home to a
sculptural artist named Jeanne Kidd,
a true marble master.
But Jeanne's got some words of caution
for us when it comes to Tennessee marble.
There's like big chunks that you
can see in the texture of the marble,
and when you carve it you can
see it breaks off in these big pieces.
Whereas when you carve Italian marble
you can see how fine the structure is.
And it's like tighter.
[narrator] That's because
from a geological point of view
Tennessee marble isn't a true marble.
[Jeanne] Marble is formed
basically from seashells.
And it's considered, I guess it's metamorphosis
where it's like it's been underground
and then it transforms
into this really hard material.
[narrator] All marble
begins its life as limestone.
Limestone is then exposed to the
heat and pressure from the earth's core
igniting a gradual crystallization process.
But Tennessee marble hasn't
undergone this rigorous metamorphosis
like genuine marble.
And in a side by side comparison, it shows.
[Jeanne] So if you look at the crystals
in here compared to the crystals in here
the crystallization leads
to much bigger pieces.
And here there's larger crystals.
Whereas if you look at this it's really,
really like compressed really tight.
[narrator] Most builders and sculptors
still classify it as marble because
it carves and shapes like marble
and looks almost identical when polished.
In fact almost all the
building on the National Mall
are made out of Tennessee marble.
A Parthenon made from the
same material would fit right in.
So we'll build it out of Tennessee marble.
But working with marble
requires skilled stone carvers.
Will we be able to find the right people?
And if so how many
people will we need to hire?
[John] To rebuild the Parthenon today,
we could build the large blocks of stone.
But to have the same
craftsmanship and attention to detail
and to have the sculptures
would simply not be possible.
We're almost ready to build our
own Parthenon in Washington DC.
We know it's gonna
be a flawless recreation.
Mimicking and building on the
concept behind the original Parthenon
but in Tennessee marble.
Now we've gotta carve out a
solution to our biggest problem yet.
The craftsmanship of stone cutting, there's
still a few people who do it but it's
- rapidly being lost.
- [narrator] In ancient times
stone cutting was big business.
But the true rock stars on the
Parthenon job site were the artisans
responsible for sculpting the elaborate
stone work that adorned the structure.
All of that was overseen by a leading
sculptor at the time called Phidias.
And he was the best of
the best, and, of course,
if the Athenians were going to build the
best temple they needed the best overseer.
[narrator] A native Athenian Phidias is
credited with sculpting the statue of Zeus
at the Olympian temple.
He's also responsible
for the statue of Athena
that dominated the
interior of the Parthenon.
And luckily for us, we've
got a Phidias of our very own.
[Allan] In 1990 I won a competition
to recreate the lost statue of Athena.
[narrator] Though the
original may be lost to time,
Allan employed many of the same techniques
used by the Greek master, Phidias.
[Allan] He used clay and made molds.
Those mold were used to pour
gold in and create gold castings.
[narrator] Cast upon the molds,
the individual pieces could
be assembled like a puzzle
on top of a large frame
known as an armature.
So in terms of methods my method
was a fairly ancient method because
I was modeling everything
in clay and then casting
in plaster molds which
is a very old technology.
[narrator] Allan used plaster
and ultra-thin gold leaf.
But Phidias used ivory for the body.
And over 1 ton of pure gold
to create a truly colossal
statue of mythic proportions.
The difference is that Phidias
had a wooden armature inside the piece
and I have a steel
armature inside the piece.
But other than that the
method's pretty close.
Allan, you're hired.
But we're gonna need more
than one master sculptor
to recreate this legendary Greek temple.
What can we learn from the ancient Greeks
to ensure we're hiring the right workforce?
[Emily] Well, we have some
really interesting inscriptions
from the Acropolis that
point to who was building
and who was designing the Parthenon.
We can put together the number of
people who were working on different areas.
Some estimate suggests
that about 500 to 600
men alone were needed
to source the material
to transport it, you know
kind of rudimentary dress
the material and bring it to the site.
And then you probably
had another 150 to 200 men
who were acting as stone cutters.
And then on top of that you have around
50 to 60 to 70 artisans,
so sculptors who are all
working on different pieces
of the sculptural program.
[narrator] In total, that's
nearly 900 craftspeople.
Finding that many stone workers
might just crush our dreams.
Fortunately today's biggest
quarries are literal stone factories.
Here we can cut and carve
out our Tennessee marble,
producing the exact shapes we need
before shipping them out to the job site.
With these facilities we can easily cut
down the number of stone cutters we'll need.
So let's put the number at 300 people.
But how long is it going to take to build?
It was built over the span of 15 years.
That is something quite
incredible in ancient temple building.
Many temples took a 100
years or they were never finished,
and so to finish a temple in such a
quick time frame was really something.
[narrator] It's awe-inspiring
when you consider
how long it's taking to rebuild it today.
They've moved incredibly slowly, so
just trying to piece things back together
and then to custom make the pieces
to fit the puzzle that is the building
using modern cranes and laser levels
and everything has taken decades.
[narrator] The restoration
work on the Acropolis
began in the 1970's
and still isn't complete.
For our time line, we are trying to
move at the same speed as the Greeks,
not the modern restorers.
So let's give ourselves 15 years.
The same amount of time
it took to build the original.
We are just about to ready to
break ground on our new Parthenon.
But first we need to tally up the
numbers before we can get started.
How shocking will the price
tag be if we built it today?
So you wanna build a modern day Parthenon.
Even bigger than the famous
Parthenon in Athens, what would it take?
We're imagining a flawless recreation
of the most beautiful building in history.
For stone, we're mining over
22,000 tons of Tennessee marble
and it's gonna take up to 300
workers and 15 years to pull this off.
We decided to build our
Parthenon in Washington DC.
And we'll design our temple following
the same blue print as the ancient Greeks.
So the Parthenon follows
the plan of a Doric temple.
It has a stylobate, which is the base,
and then on top of that you have columns,
and then on top of that you have the
gable area which is called the pediment.
They constructed it just like any building,
you have to build from the ground up.
So initially there's a fairly substantial
preparation of the foundation.
[narrator] Once we've leveled the ground
we'll stack three layers of stone blocks
to complete our stylobate.
And then you put in the columns.
[narrator] Greek columns
aren't one solid piece of stone
but a series of carved stone trunks.
But are 33 feet tall, getting the parts
in place took the ancient equivalent
of heavy duty machinery.
So this is a one-tenth scale model of
the crane that scholars believe was used
to hoist the block of marble into
position on the ancient Parthenon.
[narrator] Utilizing a
wench and pulling system,
this primitive crane used human labor
to lift 22 ton stone blocks
over four stories into the air.
Today we can use
telescopic cranes like this one
to lift and position our rough cut stone.
Once the columns are up we can
complete the exterior stone walls.
Now it's time to cap
off the structural work.
Then you put your roof with the pediment,
and then all of the
decoration kind of goes on last.
[narrator] But when it comes to
decoration, the devil is in the details.
The pediment is usually where you find
the finest sculptural elements on a temple,
it's the largest area
to cover in sculpture,
but it's also very
challenging area to cover.
[narrator] But our sculptural
team has a few modern advantages
over the ancient Greeks.
Power tools.
The rules of rock cutting are
simple, harder rocks cut softer rocks.
And diamonds are the
hardest rocks on earth.
Once we finished the final
carving and stone cutting
it's time to erect our piece de resistance.
A massive replica of Lady Liberty
to dominate the interior of our Parthenon.
We did it! A modern shrine to
democracy, freedom and beauty.
We used the proportions and
ratios of the ancient Greeks
to reconstruct their
greatest piece of architecture.
We built it out of 22,000
tons of Tennessee marble.
It took 300 people,
15 years to construct it,
and complete the elaborate
sculptural decorations.
But how much did the whole thing cost?
Historians estimate that the
original cost was just about
half of the city state of
Athens' annual budget surplus.
It's a huge undertaking, so it's a vast
investment of money, time and personnel.
So it's this huge capitol investment
on the part of the Athenian state.
[narrator] Well, last year Washington
DC ran a surplus of 322 million.
We say we can build a
Parthenon for half that.
So the final price tag...
161 million dollars.
By rebuilding the Parthenon
according to the golden ratio
we've revived a lost
construction technique,
a pathway to beauty that
the world has sorely missed.
There is something there that's
ageless and that is their sense of beauty.
And I think that most people who
see the building get that immediately.
[narrator] But to us the question remains.
Will our modern architecture
stand the test of time?
[John] All around us we see elements
of classical Greek architecture reinvented.
But each culture must
invent its own architecture.
[narrator] And what role will the
science of beauty play in the future?
If we built it today?
the most recognized buildings in the world.
[John] It's really a high
point in terms of materials,
geometry, construction, and beauty.
[narrator] And yet more than
2,000 years after completion
engineers are still marveling at the
sophisticated architectural techniques
used to construct this enduring
symbol of ancient Greece.
But with today's technology
could we out build the Greeks?
To rebuild the Parthenon
is a fun, fantastic idea.
It's a huge undertaking so it's a vast
investment of money, time and personnel.
If we were to rebuild the Parthenon
today, I think where would we put it?
[narrator] Here's the plan, we're
rounding up the best architects
and the newest modern materials
to build the next Parthenon.
Even more impressive, lavish,
enormous and built to last.
The golden ratio appears many
different places in the Parthenon.
If understood and if applied it
can kind of be like a secret weapon.
[narrator] Imagine the world's
greatest wonders... re-imagined.
We are wondering how long would it take?
How much would it cost? How
many workers would we need?
Could we even do it if we built it today.
Athens, the capitol of Greece
and home to 3 million people.
Rising above this modern
metropolis is the Parthenon.
Perched atop of the acropolis.
[John] It really symbolizes
achievements not only
in architecture but also
economics, mathematics,
philosophy, religion, democracy.
When you look at it, you get a
sense of timelessness and eternity.
[narrator] And if you think
the Parthenon looks familiar,
that's because its design has inspired
numerous adaptations over the last 2000 years.
The Parthenon has had a huge influence
on architecture all over the world.
[narrator] Today, we can see
the Parthenon's enduring influence
in the facades of banks, museums,
universities and government buildings
all over Washington DC.
It's become known as the blueprint
for any building trying to convey wealth
culture and power.
The Parthenon is the
most perfect Greek temple.
[narrator] Construction of the
Parthenon began in 447 BC.
And was built from 16,500 pieces of stone.
Constructed on a limestone base,
it had 69 marble columns,
each weighing about the
same as two humpback whales.
It's footprint was a bit
smaller than a football field
with the interior chamber or cellar
big enough to park seven 18 wheelers.
Directed by Pericles the Parthenon's
original architect built the temple
as a tribute to the city's
patron deity, Athena.
Inside the Parthenon was a
statue made out of gold and ivory
and if you were to open the doors and pass
light in on her shoe would have just gleamed.
[narrator] For the people of Athens
the Parthenon represent
much more than a shrine.
It was a declaration of power.
Pericles came up with this great scheme,
this building program, to
beautify the city of Athens.
To make the physical city
match her economic power,
her political power and
her diplomatic power.
[John] It was also a place of
cultural, artistic importance,
and a side of banking and a
container of wealth for ancient Athens.
The Parthenon symbolizes the greatest
achievement of Greek architecture.
And so when the Athenians went to build
the Parthenon they wanted to be the best.
[narrator] But now after surviving
wars, earthquakes and fires
this monumental temple is due for some TLC.
Archaeologist Andriani
Bakendritsu is part of a team
undertaking a massive
restoration of the Parthenon.
So far it's taken nearly 50
years and over 100 million dollars
and it's still under construction.
But seven million people
visit the Parthenon each year
and archaeologists like
Andriani are committed
to restoring its original grandeur.
[Andriani] It is the highest expression
of the classic elithos in Greek art.
And it also expresses the political,
economical and artistic peak of Athens.
[narrator] So now we're wondering,
what if we built our own
modern day Parthenon.
Could we recreate the most
beautiful building in the world?
The meaning of this monument, this temple
could be understood only though the era
in which it was built.
And we could never truly
recreate what was done in antiquity.
[narrator] Still today brilliant minds
wonder if we can use numbers and geometry
to quantify beauty.
This is not only a great work of architecture,
it's also a great work of mathematics.
The Parthenon is said to be
the most mathematically perfect
building or temple ever constructed.
The proportions that appear in it
use many, many different numbers.
[narrator] Experts believe the Greeks
paid enormous attention to geometry
and the way humans
perceive design and proportion.
But we're curious, can beauty
truly be defined by numbers?
Antiquities expert, Emily Varto believes
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
[Emily] This is an idea that the Parthenon is
so beautiful, and pleasing to the human eye
that it must follow one of
these kind of universal principals
of beauty and proportion.
Well, it doesn't have to follow
a universal standard of beauty
to be a thing of beauty.
[narrator] But Justin Shubow
trusts the Greek's math.
Well, the Parthenon is one of the
great monuments of Western civilization
and indeed of world history.
[narrator] Justin advocates for
a return to classical Greek style
in all US government building architecture.
[Justin] The Parthenon is a
model that has inspired buildings
throughout the centuries
creating beauty, grandeur and
making the world a better place to live.
And that's one reason why it has been
so popular in different places and times.
[narrator] The ancient Greeks
planned to build a structure
that would stand for centuries.
We need our strategy to rival the
Greeks and stand the test of time.
We'd want our Parthenon
to be larger, tougher,
and more lavish than ever before.
A building with staying power.
So, can we use the ancient Greek
principles of mathematics and geometry
to construct the most beautiful
building in over 2,000 years?
There are certain sizes
and shapes of buildings
that are inherently appealing
given our human nature.
[Emily] I think there is a
danger in setting up a structure
like the Parthenon as an ideal of beauty.
Rebuilding the Parthenon
today would be incredibly difficult.
The quality of the stone, the craftsmanship
the labor required to move the stones.
And yet it could be possible as a
brute force exercise in construction.
[narrator] But what are we gonna
build it out of? How long will it take?
How much will it cost?
And will it be worth the investment?
It's a monumental job.
Lining up all the pieces,
parts and people we'd need.
If we built it today.
We're imagining how
we'd build a new Parthenon.
One that'd leave the original
one in Athens in the dust.
But before we figure out how we'd build
it we need to figure out why we'd build it.
When the ancient Greeks created
their Parthenon the answer was simple.
They needed to rebuild the old one.
The center of the city stayed and
particularly the acropolis had been sacked
earlier in the century
by a Persian invasion.
And it had remained unbuilt, unrenovated.
[narrator] In 480 BC the
Persian army invades Athens,
part of an empire expansion mission
reeking havoc on ancient Greece.
So, the Greek cities, they need to
ally themselves against the Persians.
[narrator] Decades of war ensued
with the Athenians leading the charge.
Athens was able to position herself
as the champion of Greek freedom,
of the great protector against
the tyranny of the Persians.
[narrator] United, the Greek city states
defeat the invading Persian Empire.
And so in the aftermath of those wars,
Athens was able to turn what was initially
a league of free and willing
Greek city states into and empire
forcing member states to join or to remain,
and eventually moving the treasury
of that free league to Athens itself.
[Myles] The Athenians demand
basically tribute payments
from these city states and they
spend that money pretty freely.
And the city expands enormously in size.
[narrator] Athenian authorities
used their new fund to rebuild
the temple complex on the acropolis.
With the new Parthenon as its centerpiece.
Today we don't build
temples worshiping Greek gods
but we do build government
buildings all the time.
Some experts believe these
buildings lack any sense of style.
So many of the government building
that were built after World War II
are just obviously ugly.
One of the most notorious building in
the United States is Boston's City Hall.
When it was built the
leading modernist architect,
Philip Johnson said
"I love it, it's so ugly".
These are building that do
not inspire faith in our republic.
[narrator] But are our modern buildings
really inherently inferior
to the ancient Greeks?
There is this conceit,
well, this is traditional,
and it's associated with power and
status and privilege and government.
So it must be the most
perfect architecture there is.
[narrator] For most of us beauty
really is in the eye of the beholder.
But for guys like Gary, it's all in math.
Gary Meisner is a writer
and software developer
obsessed with the golden ratio... or Phi,
an ancient Greek formula
discovered by Euclid,
the forefather of geometry.
Euclid defined the golden ratio as follows.
A line is said to be cut
into extreme and mean ratio
when the length of the entire
line to the larger segment
is the same as the larger
segment to the small segment.
It's a lot of words but it's
really not that complicated.
It's just a matter of dividing
a line at the one unique point
where the ratios are all consistent.
There are certain elements of
design that use position and proportion.
And when the golden
ratio is used in those cases
you end up with a, kind of, a full-proof
way of achieving beauty and aesthetics.
[narrator] So if our mission
is to build our new Parthenon
according to the golden ratio principals
we'll want that mission to
guide every decision we make.
And, if we're gonna build
a structure to rival the one
the ancient Greek built 2000 years ago,
we're gonna need the perfect location
to showcase our modern world wonder.
Wherever you are in Athens,
you catch a vantage of the
Parthenon on the acropolis.
And it stops you in your tracks.
[narrator] To design it we're gonna
need to find the right materials.
Like is it Italian marble,
is it Greek marble,
is it Tennessee marble,
which marble do we use?
[narrator] We'll also need to figure
out what size of workforce we'll need,
how long it'll take, and how
much this whole thing's gonna cost?
Trying to recreate the Parthenon
today would be phenomenally expensive.
[narrator] But first things
first, we need to decide...
where we're going to build our Parthenon?
Should be build next to the original
one on the acropolis in Athens?
Athens is a big bustling
center set in a deep basin
between a series of mountains.
And at the center of this basin the acropolis
rises up like a rock out of the middle.
The prominent location of the acropolis
above the city of Athens makes
it a natural place for a temple.
[narrator] But even if we got
permission to build on the acropolis
now doesn't seem like the right time to
build a new Parthenon in that location.
[Myles] There's a lot of work
going on on the Parthenon today
and it's actually in response to
the reconstructing
conservation of the Parthenon
in the 1920's by a guy named Balanos.
So he looked at the Parthenon which
at that point was just basically a ruin.
So what he decided was he was going to
piece together all of the columns he found
and put back together the complete
colonnade on the exterior of the temple.
And he then used iron bars
to hold everything together.
Overtime, as we know iron rusts.
It rusts and expands, and it
started splitting open the columns
and it started to collapse again.
So the Greek government
made a conscious effort
to come up with a conservation plan.
And that process is
actually continuing today.
[narrator] It sounds to us like one
Parthenon is all the acropolis can handle.
So, let's look elsewhere.
How about in Washington DC?
It's already home to the
country's most extensive collection
of Greek inspired architecture.
[Justin] At the founding
of the United States
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
consciously chose the classical tradition
for the design of Washington DC
and its core buildings of government.
The Parthenon is a model
that has inspired some of the
iconic buildings in Washington DC
such as the US Supreme Court
and the Lincoln memorial behind me.
[narrator] But in recent years
DC's abandoned its classical roots.
[Justin] Since the 1990s
only something like 20%
of federal buildings have
been classical or traditional.
[narrator] Now all that may be changing.
The White House is considering
passing an Executive Order
that would reorient federal architecture
in a classical and traditional direction.
[narrator] If we built
our new Parthenon here
we could help lead an architectural
renaissance in our nation's capitol.
All right, we've got our
location Washington DC it is.
[narrator] But we still gotta
figure out what it's gonna look like.
What should we build it out of?
How do we make it last 2,000 years?
And how much is this
whole thing... gonna cost?
We're imagining what it would
take to build our very own Parthenon.
Bigger and better than the
famous Parthenon in Athens.
Now that we've decide on
our location, in Washington DC,
we'll need to figure out how we build it.
Well, turns out we're not the
first ones to pose that question.
We are at the Nashville
Parthenon which is the only
full sized detailed recreation of
the ancient Parthenon in the world.
It was built here in 1897
as the art building for the Tennessee
Centennial Exposition and it was
Nashville's contribution to
the fair because Nashville
had the nickname Athens of the South.
[narrator] Nashville's Parthenon is
a meticulously researched attempt
to imagine what the original
would have looked like in its prime.
So it's an excellent place
for us to start figuring out
what our Parthenon will look like.
From the outside Nashville's
Parthenon is a near perfect
recreation of the classical Greek temple.
Complete with its decorative
banner known as the frieze.
The frieze on the outside which is
alternating squares of high-relief sculpture
with something that looks like
a Roman numeral three kind of,
those are the metopes and triglyphs.
[narrator] Along the frieze triglyphs
separate the more decorative metopes.
Sculptural frieze frames used to
tell stories from Greek mythology.
In its basic style the
Parthenon is a Doric temple.
So there were three orders
of classical architecture
that go... As you go from plain to fancy,
you go Doric, ionic and Corinthian.
[narrator] If that's all Greek
to you, here's what it means.
The architectural history of ancient Greece
is split into three periods or orders.
You can tell what order the temple
belongs to just by looking at its columns.
First came the Doric order,
relatively simple columns
with vertical grooves called flutes.
Next, the ionic order, similar
columns but set upon bases
with scroll sculptures
on top known as a capitol.
Finally in the Corinthian order
columns again are set upon a base
but the capitol features more
elaborate sculptural details.
The Nashville recreation
shows that from the outside
the Parthenon's columns
are clearly of the Doric order.
But inside is a different story.
The building in its overall style is Doric,
the simplest and plainest of the three
orders of classical architecture.
But the columns in here
are not Doric, they are ionic.
[narrator] The Nashville
Parthenon even includes
a recreation of the Athena statue
that once dominated the
interior of the original Parthenon.
Between the Nashville recreation
and the Acropolis restoration
we've got plenty of instruction on
what our Greek temple should look like.
Okay, we're almost ready to design
our perfect Parthenon recreation.
But first we need to figure out if and
how the Parthenon's design secrets
lie in its use of the golden ratio.
The Parthenon is
approximately 98 feet by 230 feet.
Which is not a golden ratio.
So, how much does the golden ratio actually
apply to the Parthenon's design secrets?
If you pay attention to the measurements
which archaeologists have done
within the last 20 or so years and beyond,
you'll notice that the
proportions is four to nine,
or nine to four. So I think
there is a secret in the ratio
it's just that it's a different ratio.
[narrator] Just like art has
fundamentally changed over the centuries
architecture has changed as well.
And well some contemporary
architects believe the golden ratio
has become less important over time,
other experts like Gary Meisner
think it's the most useful
framework for defining beauty.
He's even developed software
based entirely on the concept.
[Gary] What the software does it's
transparent overlay that appears on the screen
provides a set of grids that
are in golden ratio proportions.
Here I've applied a golden
rectangle to the face of the Parthenon
going from where the roof
line would be projected to be
to the bottom of the
second set of steps here.
So this is a golden rectangle that frames
the Parthenon, but in addition to that
the golden ratio of the height
defines the top of the columns.
[narrator] It's clear for Gary and
the Greeks, beauty is in the math.
But the ancients also knew that
looks can sometimes be deceiving.
Architects understood that
the human eye compensates
when it sees something
that is perfectly rectilinear
and it doesn't see it as rectilinear.
[Myles] So if you were to
look at it you would notice that
the columns on the building
are not perfectly perpendicular
to the ground, they tilt inwards slightly.
That the columns themselves
are not straight up and down.
In fact they are slightly
fatter in the middle,
and they get thinner on the bottom and top.
And also the building is
curved slightly in the center.
[narrator] These subtle manipulations
are known as optical refinements.
Design elements meant to counter
the tendency of human perception
to see a curve
when two straight lines run parallel
caused by the curvature of our eyes.
These ancient architects
had to basically build a building
for the human eye and the human mind.
[narrator] Armed with the right
ratios and optical refinements,
we're finally ready to
settle on a design plan.
We'll build a perfect
homage to the Parthenon,
just like the one they did in Nashville.
But how are we gonna make our
Parthenon look as good as the original?
What material should we use to build it?
How many people will it take?
And how much will this whole thing cost?
We're imagining how we'd
build a modern day Parthenon
bigger and better than
the original in Athens.
And one that won't fall
to ruins in 2,000 years.
We've already decided on a location,
our nation's capital, Washington DC.
We'll design it using the same
proportion the ancient Greeks used
and apply the principals
of the golden ratio.
But now we're trying to figure
out what materials should we use?
Our search brings us back to Washington DC
where the grandest examples of American
monumental stone architecture can be found.
[Justin] The mall came to
include the Lincoln Memorial
which is inspired by a Greek temple.
Also the Supreme Court building
which is also classical in design.
When you see some of the
buildings on the National Mall
it feels like they have been there
forever, they are not a matter of fashion.
[narrator] That's because
for thousands of years
if you were building something to last
stone was the material of choice.
But halfway through the 20th century
the tides of architectural
taste turned in Washington DC.
[Justin] Starting after
World War II however,
the government abandoned classicism.
Government style became
the international style,
and also Brutalism.
[Justin] Brutalism is a style of
architecture that's characterized by imposing
large scale buildings with rigid geometric
designs made entirely of concrete.
In the 60's we started getting
concrete grids in Washington DC,
these large harsh, sterile buildings
that are worlds apart from
prior classical tradition.
[narrator] We're already copying
the design of the Parthenon,
maybe we can use the
same building materials, too.
So what was the original Parthenon made of?
It was built entirely of pentelic marble,
so marble from Mount Pentelicon.
Normally, a temple would
be built out of limestone
and then its sculptures
might be done in marble
and put on to the structure.
The Athenians built the whole thing out
of marble, it's really quite a statement.
[narrator] The Parthenon was constructed
from approximately 22,000 tons of marble.
Imagine how much that would cost us
if we ordered our marble from Athens.
So what are our options?
Well, fortunately in Nashville we
found a guy with some rock solid advice.
Marble is wonderful to work with
because it's sort of a luscious material.
[narrator] Alan Lequire is
a world renowned sculptor
with decades of carving experience.
He's giving us the scoop on
what material architects used
to build the Nashville Parthenon.
The Parthenon in Nashville has
Tennessee gray marble for its floor.
They weren't able to get pentelic marble
but they were able to get Tennessee marble
and it's actually a really lovely stone.
[narrator] Luckily for us,
Tennessee marble can be found
right here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
It's nicknamed the Marble
City because of the stone's
historical importance to the local economy.
And... it's also home to a
sculptural artist named Jeanne Kidd,
a true marble master.
But Jeanne's got some words of caution
for us when it comes to Tennessee marble.
There's like big chunks that you
can see in the texture of the marble,
and when you carve it you can
see it breaks off in these big pieces.
Whereas when you carve Italian marble
you can see how fine the structure is.
And it's like tighter.
[narrator] That's because
from a geological point of view
Tennessee marble isn't a true marble.
[Jeanne] Marble is formed
basically from seashells.
And it's considered, I guess it's metamorphosis
where it's like it's been underground
and then it transforms
into this really hard material.
[narrator] All marble
begins its life as limestone.
Limestone is then exposed to the
heat and pressure from the earth's core
igniting a gradual crystallization process.
But Tennessee marble hasn't
undergone this rigorous metamorphosis
like genuine marble.
And in a side by side comparison, it shows.
[Jeanne] So if you look at the crystals
in here compared to the crystals in here
the crystallization leads
to much bigger pieces.
And here there's larger crystals.
Whereas if you look at this it's really,
really like compressed really tight.
[narrator] Most builders and sculptors
still classify it as marble because
it carves and shapes like marble
and looks almost identical when polished.
In fact almost all the
building on the National Mall
are made out of Tennessee marble.
A Parthenon made from the
same material would fit right in.
So we'll build it out of Tennessee marble.
But working with marble
requires skilled stone carvers.
Will we be able to find the right people?
And if so how many
people will we need to hire?
[John] To rebuild the Parthenon today,
we could build the large blocks of stone.
But to have the same
craftsmanship and attention to detail
and to have the sculptures
would simply not be possible.
We're almost ready to build our
own Parthenon in Washington DC.
We know it's gonna
be a flawless recreation.
Mimicking and building on the
concept behind the original Parthenon
but in Tennessee marble.
Now we've gotta carve out a
solution to our biggest problem yet.
The craftsmanship of stone cutting, there's
still a few people who do it but it's
- rapidly being lost.
- [narrator] In ancient times
stone cutting was big business.
But the true rock stars on the
Parthenon job site were the artisans
responsible for sculpting the elaborate
stone work that adorned the structure.
All of that was overseen by a leading
sculptor at the time called Phidias.
And he was the best of
the best, and, of course,
if the Athenians were going to build the
best temple they needed the best overseer.
[narrator] A native Athenian Phidias is
credited with sculpting the statue of Zeus
at the Olympian temple.
He's also responsible
for the statue of Athena
that dominated the
interior of the Parthenon.
And luckily for us, we've
got a Phidias of our very own.
[Allan] In 1990 I won a competition
to recreate the lost statue of Athena.
[narrator] Though the
original may be lost to time,
Allan employed many of the same techniques
used by the Greek master, Phidias.
[Allan] He used clay and made molds.
Those mold were used to pour
gold in and create gold castings.
[narrator] Cast upon the molds,
the individual pieces could
be assembled like a puzzle
on top of a large frame
known as an armature.
So in terms of methods my method
was a fairly ancient method because
I was modeling everything
in clay and then casting
in plaster molds which
is a very old technology.
[narrator] Allan used plaster
and ultra-thin gold leaf.
But Phidias used ivory for the body.
And over 1 ton of pure gold
to create a truly colossal
statue of mythic proportions.
The difference is that Phidias
had a wooden armature inside the piece
and I have a steel
armature inside the piece.
But other than that the
method's pretty close.
Allan, you're hired.
But we're gonna need more
than one master sculptor
to recreate this legendary Greek temple.
What can we learn from the ancient Greeks
to ensure we're hiring the right workforce?
[Emily] Well, we have some
really interesting inscriptions
from the Acropolis that
point to who was building
and who was designing the Parthenon.
We can put together the number of
people who were working on different areas.
Some estimate suggests
that about 500 to 600
men alone were needed
to source the material
to transport it, you know
kind of rudimentary dress
the material and bring it to the site.
And then you probably
had another 150 to 200 men
who were acting as stone cutters.
And then on top of that you have around
50 to 60 to 70 artisans,
so sculptors who are all
working on different pieces
of the sculptural program.
[narrator] In total, that's
nearly 900 craftspeople.
Finding that many stone workers
might just crush our dreams.
Fortunately today's biggest
quarries are literal stone factories.
Here we can cut and carve
out our Tennessee marble,
producing the exact shapes we need
before shipping them out to the job site.
With these facilities we can easily cut
down the number of stone cutters we'll need.
So let's put the number at 300 people.
But how long is it going to take to build?
It was built over the span of 15 years.
That is something quite
incredible in ancient temple building.
Many temples took a 100
years or they were never finished,
and so to finish a temple in such a
quick time frame was really something.
[narrator] It's awe-inspiring
when you consider
how long it's taking to rebuild it today.
They've moved incredibly slowly, so
just trying to piece things back together
and then to custom make the pieces
to fit the puzzle that is the building
using modern cranes and laser levels
and everything has taken decades.
[narrator] The restoration
work on the Acropolis
began in the 1970's
and still isn't complete.
For our time line, we are trying to
move at the same speed as the Greeks,
not the modern restorers.
So let's give ourselves 15 years.
The same amount of time
it took to build the original.
We are just about to ready to
break ground on our new Parthenon.
But first we need to tally up the
numbers before we can get started.
How shocking will the price
tag be if we built it today?
So you wanna build a modern day Parthenon.
Even bigger than the famous
Parthenon in Athens, what would it take?
We're imagining a flawless recreation
of the most beautiful building in history.
For stone, we're mining over
22,000 tons of Tennessee marble
and it's gonna take up to 300
workers and 15 years to pull this off.
We decided to build our
Parthenon in Washington DC.
And we'll design our temple following
the same blue print as the ancient Greeks.
So the Parthenon follows
the plan of a Doric temple.
It has a stylobate, which is the base,
and then on top of that you have columns,
and then on top of that you have the
gable area which is called the pediment.
They constructed it just like any building,
you have to build from the ground up.
So initially there's a fairly substantial
preparation of the foundation.
[narrator] Once we've leveled the ground
we'll stack three layers of stone blocks
to complete our stylobate.
And then you put in the columns.
[narrator] Greek columns
aren't one solid piece of stone
but a series of carved stone trunks.
But are 33 feet tall, getting the parts
in place took the ancient equivalent
of heavy duty machinery.
So this is a one-tenth scale model of
the crane that scholars believe was used
to hoist the block of marble into
position on the ancient Parthenon.
[narrator] Utilizing a
wench and pulling system,
this primitive crane used human labor
to lift 22 ton stone blocks
over four stories into the air.
Today we can use
telescopic cranes like this one
to lift and position our rough cut stone.
Once the columns are up we can
complete the exterior stone walls.
Now it's time to cap
off the structural work.
Then you put your roof with the pediment,
and then all of the
decoration kind of goes on last.
[narrator] But when it comes to
decoration, the devil is in the details.
The pediment is usually where you find
the finest sculptural elements on a temple,
it's the largest area
to cover in sculpture,
but it's also very
challenging area to cover.
[narrator] But our sculptural
team has a few modern advantages
over the ancient Greeks.
Power tools.
The rules of rock cutting are
simple, harder rocks cut softer rocks.
And diamonds are the
hardest rocks on earth.
Once we finished the final
carving and stone cutting
it's time to erect our piece de resistance.
A massive replica of Lady Liberty
to dominate the interior of our Parthenon.
We did it! A modern shrine to
democracy, freedom and beauty.
We used the proportions and
ratios of the ancient Greeks
to reconstruct their
greatest piece of architecture.
We built it out of 22,000
tons of Tennessee marble.
It took 300 people,
15 years to construct it,
and complete the elaborate
sculptural decorations.
But how much did the whole thing cost?
Historians estimate that the
original cost was just about
half of the city state of
Athens' annual budget surplus.
It's a huge undertaking, so it's a vast
investment of money, time and personnel.
So it's this huge capitol investment
on the part of the Athenian state.
[narrator] Well, last year Washington
DC ran a surplus of 322 million.
We say we can build a
Parthenon for half that.
So the final price tag...
161 million dollars.
By rebuilding the Parthenon
according to the golden ratio
we've revived a lost
construction technique,
a pathway to beauty that
the world has sorely missed.
There is something there that's
ageless and that is their sense of beauty.
And I think that most people who
see the building get that immediately.
[narrator] But to us the question remains.
Will our modern architecture
stand the test of time?
[John] All around us we see elements
of classical Greek architecture reinvented.
But each culture must
invent its own architecture.
[narrator] And what role will the
science of beauty play in the future?
If we built it today?