When Sigmund Freud visited the Parthenon as a young man, he found it disturbed his sense of reality. Something about its sunlit columns and precise geometry seemed unreal. Despite its grand scale, perched above Athens, it was a site of intimacy and play. The good doctor could sense its many ghosts, from the bodies felled by Ottoman conquerors to the Greeks of antiquity who gathered to sing, kiss and pray.
Far from Athens itself, the Parthenon is being rebuilt in Melbourne, Australia as part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s annual architecture commission. Temple of Boom is designed by Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang, who conceived of the project during lockdown. The structure is made of glass-reinforced concrete and rises from the NGV gardens like a piece of sumptuous Meccano. It invites the public to reflect not only on the Parthenon’s beauty, but its complicated history.
