The CSA Propylaea Project

The CSA Propylaea Project

The CSA Propylaea Project was a cooperative project to create a single digital resource of information about the Propylaea, the building at the entrance to the Athenian Acropolis. The project was conceived by CSA Director, Harrison Eiteljorg, II; the archaeologist/architect in charge of anastylosis work on the Propylaea, Tasos Tanoulas; and the structural engineer who has worked on the Propylaea and is now the Director of the Acropolis Restoration Service, Maria Ioannidou. The aim of the project was to digitize existing information about the structure in the forms of drawings and photographs, to build a computer-aided design model of it, and to create a single, integrated resource consisting of model and related information, including text materials...

1. A history of the project.
2. Photographs of the Propylaea. Photographs may be found and accessed via two plans of the Propylaea at this slide access page. The images are all copyrighted, and CSA's copyright position has been stated on the copyright page.

   Thumbnails are used to provide previews and to help users find the images they wish to examine in more detail, but the actual images are served as very high-resolution, compressed JPEG images. For more information about the images, see the slide access page. In addition, a database containing information about the images is available from the same slide access page.. The data are available in both FileMaker (fp7) format and as tab-delimited files.

3. Information about and access to the FileMaker database used to record information about the work on the NW wing of the Propylaea and to generate other files when required. The FileMaker files (and the tab-delimited files with the same data) may be accessed via the guide to the database page, which also has documentation necessary to make the files useful.
4. Scans of the notebook pages recording the survey work on the NW wing. See the survey notebook page for more information and access to the PDF files containing the scans.
5. Full information concerning the CAD files may be found the CAD models page. Users will need to spend considerable time becoming familiar with the information there before attempting to use the files. All the files are in AutoCAD 2007 format (regrettably, a proprietary format) but may be provided in other formats on request, depending upon the format(s) needed and the software required to generate them. (When the files have been deposited in an archival repository, such alternate formats may or may not be available.) The files currently available can only be used with AutoCAD.
6. Information about survey methods used in the course of the project.
7. Scans of drawings of the blocks of the SE anta and the nearby column and of various blocks/walls/tiles from the NW wing of the Propylaea are available only by request to Harrison Eiteljorg, II, by email to user nicke at (@) the domain csanet.org. Similarly, the files generated by the 3D scanning are available only by writing to Mr. Eiteljorg. (Access to any files not available on the site for downloading may be by another route once the files have been deposited in an archival repository.)
8. Files produced by the 3D scanning work carried out in 2004. These files are in the proprietary format developed by Cyrax, the scanner manufacturer prior to the sale of the company to Leica. The files are only available by written request to Mr. Eiteljorg or the archival repository.

In addition, there is a very basic introduction to the Propylaea that has been a part of the web site for some time. It includes a beginning bibliography and a simply plan of the Propylaea, the same simple plan used to lead users to the correct photograph.

Finally, there are many articles from the CSA Newsletter concerning the project. They are listed here, on this page, as are other publications resulting from the project. Lectures about the project and/or information derived from the project are also listed here.