The Caryatid

Caryatids are female figures that are act like columns for the horizontal mouldings of a building. This is a Caryatid from the Erechtheion in Athens. Her four sisters remain in Greece. Caryatids are female figures that serve as the architectural support for the entablature of a building.

"On the high stylobate of the south porch of the Erechtheion are six maidens, who take the place of columns in supporting the entablature. Now severely weathered and affected by pollution, five of the caryatids were removed to the Acropolis Museum in 1978 and replaced with replicas. The other figure (the second from the left in the first row of four) was appropriated by Lord Elgin, who, between 1801 and 1805, removed about half of the surviving sculptures from the fallen ruins of the Acropolis and from the Parthenon, itself. They were acquired by the British Museum in 1816 and put on public display the following year. Between 1937 and 1938, even the British caryatid, which certainly is in better condition than its sisters, was damaged when masons abraded the surface (as well as that of some of the Parthenon sculptures) in a misguided and unauthorized attempt to brighten them for the opening of the new gallery in which they were to be displayed."

penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_Romana/imperialfora/augustus/erechtheion.html

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