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Before going out to the ruins, first stop into the archaeological
museum. Check out the model of the complex, what the buildings
at Olympia looked like in all their glory. |
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The museum has a gorgeous collection of things found at Olympia
– birds and animals in fantastic shapes, bronze helmets, Gorgon shields,
scads of little tiny votive figures found around the altar of Zeus. Plus
the exquisite statue Hermes of Praxiteles (holding a little tiny Dionysius),
and lovely draped ladies in Roman statues, sections of the magnificent frieze
from the Temple of Zeus – legends of the Twelve Labors of Hercules
and the Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs. |
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As you start into the ruins, on your right, you'll see the Palestra, the wrestling school. Kids can run around among the double
sets of columns (this was once roofed over), enclosing the quadrangle. Like
the athletes who trained here, older kids can practice their wrestling holds
on each other. |
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A little further down, step up the high steps into what was
originally the workshop of Phidias, the sculptor of the gigantic
Zeus statue in the Temple of Zeus. The Byzantine church was built over Phidias'
studio. (The last games were held in Olympia in 393 A.D., and in later centuries,
the buildings were ransacked by various invading hordes, and used for other
purposes.) |
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Next stop, check out the Leonidaion, a luxury five
star hotel for important guests at the games. In the center, you can see
the remnants of the fancy water garden, a later addition by the Romans.
During the Roman era, guests at the Leonidaion had a perfect view of the
processions and ceremonies over at the sacred precinct. |
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Ascend the stairs into the Altis, the sacred precinct, dominated
by the incomparable Temple of Zeus. A lone reconstructed column gives
you a sense of the massive size of the Temple of Zeus, but the broken column
sections on the ground are even more impressive. Inside the Temple was the
gigantic statue of Zeus, 43 ft. high, covered in ivory and gold, and one
of the seven wonders of the ancient world (needless to say, later this statue
was carted off, and not a bit remains). |
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Also in the Altis, the Temple of Hera, the oldest temple at Olympia,
the Nymphaion of Herodes Atticus, a Roman fountain construction, and bunches
of little treasuries, where gifts to Zeus were stored. |
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By now, you'll want to head out to the stadium, where
the running races were held. The stadium looks familiar – a long dirt
field, with a grassy embankment on either side for the spectators. Kids
can run their own races, while parents watch from the sidelines. (When we
were there, a group of 10 teenagers were energetically running the length
of the field, cheered on their classmates.) Also, don't miss the starting
line (marked in stone, grooves for toes) and square basins on the grassy
sidelines (provided water for the athletes and audience). |
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Note: These are glorious ruins, but they
are unreconstructed, and kids will need to envision what it looked like.
Also, some sections are roped off, for preservation. What is very tangible
is the stones themselves – it's a great rock collection, shaped and
weathered, smoothed and pitted, embedded with seashells, hexagonal paving,
Roman brickwork. Kids can rub their hands over the stones, the textures
of centuries. |
