Text 1. Attic art

It so happened that the students of our group went to the Archaeological Museum yesterday. When we arrived there the museum was full of visitors. Some people were viewing the find-ups of the latest excavations, others were listening to the guide's story about the drawings. A foreign guest, evidently a scholar, was reading some ancient manuscript.

My attention was attracted by the painting of a pottery which represented various compositions from myths, battle scenes and civic life episodes. It was a large vase (5th century В. C.) which had been found in Athens. According to the guide it was a piece of Attic Art. In Attica, the guide went on to say, the second quarter of 5th century В. C. was characterized by great achievements in the art of mural painting. The latter was distinguished by the nobility of types, the occasional expression of emotion in the faces, the placing of figures on different levels and at different depths. All these features can be traced in grandiose compositions executed on large vases.

One can find comparatively few sculptures of Attica of that period. The standing type of a marble figure exemplified by a statue in the Acropolis Museum shows the definite abandonment of strictly frontal as well as statuesque pose of the figure, so typical for the early representatives of that genre.

Furthermore the second quarter of 5th century В. C. marks the beginning of the so called "classical" style. It is often referred to as early classical, or the transitional, period in the course of which Greek artists got a good knowledge of the complicated structure of the human figure and tried out their abilities in rendering it in a more natural way. But it was not until two centuries later that realism in sculpture and painting was fully developed.

We were greatly impressed by what we saw and heard in the Museum. So our visit there proved (to be) both interesting and useful.

Notes

1. archaeological — археологічний

2. manuscript — рукопис

3. pottery — кераміка

4. to exemplify — бути прикладом

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TEXT 2. CLASSICAL GREEK ART

In the second quarter of the fifth century a generation of artists -ached maturity who were to free Greek art from the limitations of the archaic period and lead it to greater freedom of expression, to a more profound artistic knowledge,₍and to the achievement of the victory of creative desire over all obstacles still restricting artistic work. Greek art has achieved a mature perfect manner of expression, which truly deserves to be described as "classical".

As talented but critical disciples the Greeks absorbed from foreign cultures all that suited their character and needs. In the vanguard stood the gifted lonians of Asia Minor, who had been in permanent touch with eastern cultures.

It was that creative freedom so characteristic of the Greek spirit which raised Greek art to a height that has never been surpassed.

The arts of all centuries to come have turned, time and again, to the Hellenistic achievement and sought inspiration from it. This happened whenever their own development approached the sphere of classicism.

One of the first tasks achieved by the city of Athens was the rebuilding of the Acropolis. The reconstruction of the Acropolis was begun on a large scale in the sixties when the people and state of Athens were led by the art- loving Pericles. The ratio of the ground-plan to the side-elevation, the proportion of the individual sections, the. rhythm of the lines which were designed in such a way as to create an optical illusion of uniformity, the precision and delicacy of the outline, the perfection of the masonry and finally its sculptural ornamentation, make the Parthenon the greatest achievement of all Greek architecture of the classical period. The same artistic level was reached on the Propylaea, the entrance gateway to the Acropolis, designed and built by the architect Mnesicles as a system of open and enclosed spaces in a symmetrical layout.

Secular architecture reached its highest point during the classical period. The oldest theatres that have survived are the theatre at Syracuse dating back to the beginning of the fifth century В. C. and the theatre of Dionysus at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens.

Notes

archaic — архаїчний

all centuries to come — усіх наступних віків

time and again — неодноразово

the Acropolis— комплекс культових споруд в Афінах

Pericles — Перикл

delicacy — витонченість

masonry — каменярство

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TEXT 3. ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is a social art that touches all human beings at all levels

of their existence everywhere and everyday. This is the only discipline,

which encompasses the four major fields of human endeavor:

Humanities, Science, Art, and Technology, actually putting into practice

the professional inputs drawn from them. In sum, Architecture is the

matrix of human civilization - an authentic measure of the social

status, and an evocative expression of the ethos of an era.When

conserved, it is heritage and when inruins, it becomes archaeology,

reconstructing tell-tale pictures of the past civilizations. The demands

the profession over the years have become much more complex in

nature and much wider in scope. Architecture uses the philosophic

wholesomeness of Humanities, the logical rationalism ofScience, the

passionate imagination of Art and the inexhaustible resources of

Technology. It calls for originality, creativity, conceptualization,

perception, aesthetic values, and a holistic judgment of people, places,

objects and events. Many architects come from the ranks of good

developers, but not every good developer wants to be an architect, nor

are all of them suited for the role. Urban Design is architecture of the

cities, highly complex and gargantuan in scale.

The primary aim of urban design is to imbibe and maintain a sense

of identity and harmony among buildings, open spaces and other structures

by means of a pleasant and memorable visual imagery throughout the

length and breadth of an urban setting. Accessibility at city-level and

the movement at all levels must be designed to operate smoothly.

Volumetric relationships, harmonious spatial sequences, transition

from buildings to open spaces, streetscape and the services infrastructure

must together invest a townscape with an exclusive image ability.

Organizations should institute personnel-review procedures that

encourage developers to consider their career goals, including

architecture as an option. Managers should be encouraged to look for

architectural talent among their staff. Mentoring programs should be

implemented that let architects work with developers who want to

become architects. Developers should be encouraged to participate in

the professional world by joining associations, writing articles, and

attending conferences. Participating in this way helps developers

understand systems from a new perspective and helps them better

communicate that understanding. The first premise defining the role of

architecture at all sounds more like wishful thinking than reality isn't

the mentorship of a licensed individual a kind of accreditation? the

problem is not the lack of a system, only that the system is not

particularly in tune with reality...?The architectural profession feels

deeply concerned towards national priorities in the fields of energy

conservation, ecology, environmental pollution, protection and

preservation of architectural heritage and their precincts, low-cost

housing, urban renewals, rural upliftment, economic development at

local and district levels, etc. in the interest of quality of life both in rural

and urban settlements. The revised version of these documents reflects the

Council's response to the many challenges which the profession of

Architecture is facing at present, and is constantly endeavoring to meet

them with active concern and unflinching commitment.