The ancient workers were no less painstaking; in many cases, the joints between the blocks are all but invisible, even under a magnifying glass. The Parthenon was part of an ambitious building ...

possibly to make the building appear more "alive" or to counteract optical illusions of sagging that parallel lines (like roof and floor lines) can cause. As a result, each of the Parthenon's ...

But the Venetians bombarded the building with cannon fire ... estimate that Turkish soldiers removed 520 blocks of marble from the Parthenon ruins to create makeshift defenses, or broke them ...

(Mary Beard) "The whole Parthenon - not only the sculptures but the building - became emblematic, the symbol of new Greece. It still is, and we're still restoring it, and naturally, of course ...