What is the element that makes the marble of Paros so special? Its clarity and its lucidity. The Pentelic marble has a light transparency that reaches 1.5 cm. The famous marble of Italian Carrara reaches 2.5 centimeters. The Parian one exceeds 3.5! Due to its outstanding qualities, the Parian marble constituted an ideal raw material for the sculpture art and the architecture in the antiquity. The first marble works of art were the Cycladic figurines and vessels. In the historical times, the Parians were not constrained only to the marble trade, which gave them wealth and power. With the advent of the 6th century a famous school of sculpture was developed on the island. Renowned workshops were created while artistic heyday and cultural development prevailed. Artists such as Agoracritus (5th century BC) and Scopas (4th century BC) became famous all over Greece. Works of this school adorn big sanctuaries of that time such as the temple of Apollo and the treasure of the Sifnians at Delphi, the temple of Zeus in Olympia, the temple of Apollo in Delos etc. Some of the greatest statues of the ancient period were made of Parian marble: Nike of Paeonius, Hermes of Praxiteles, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Aphrodite of Milos.
Paros The sculpture in Paros
