It is called the east wind in the tower of the winds. Tower of Winds in Sevastopol: inconspicuous, but interesting
Greece, England, Russia
Tower of the Winds- the oldest meteorological monument in Athens, 12 meters high and about 8 meters in diameter.
Tower of the Winds in Athens
In the territory of the famous Roman Agora there is an interesting building - the Tower of the Winds.
View of the ruins of the ancient agora
Agora — market Square in ancient Greek policies, which was the place of general civil meetings (which were also called agoras at the venue). On the square, usually located in the center of the city, there were the main city market (divided into "circles" along various types goods) and often government agencies. Agora, as a rule, was also surrounded by galleries with craft workshops, temples. Sometimes statues were erected around the perimeter of the agora. Very often the agora was the administrative and economic center of the city. On the agora, the current legislation of the policy, the most important decrees carved in stone and other official decrees were publicly exhibited.
It's one of a kind architectural structure, made by builders from expensive marble quarried on the mountain Penteli.
General view of Mount Pentelikon
Penteli or Vrilittos- a mountain in Greece with a height of 1,109 m, located 23 km northeast of Athens. About 60-70% of its surface is covered with forests.Beginning with ancient times the mountain was known throughoutHellas with its marble. It was used by ancient architects for buildingAcropolis of Athens and Panathinaikos Stadium. Pentelic marble is distinguished by its impeccably uniform white color with a barely noticeable yellowish tint. Under the sun's rays, you can see its golden reflection.
The Tower of the Winds - the name of the monument of ancient Greek architecture is not the only one: the Athenians quite often call the tower "Klepsydra" or "Aerides". In the first case, the main emphasis is on the exact hydraulic clock in the structure, and in the second, on the wind, this is how the Greek word "Aerides" can be literally translated into Russian. True, despite the many names, the meteorological tower is correctly called the Kirrist Clock. IN historical documents and chronicles, it is said that the “Tower of the Winds” was erected by the ancient astronomer Andronicus, who lived in those distant times in the city of Kirra. The tower was dedicated to the pagan deity - Athena Archegedite.
Tower of the Winds
Surprisingly, the first tower of this kind, almost 12 meters high and just under 8 meters wide, was built in the middle of the first century BC! The "meteorological station" of the ancient Greeks is located on the well-known Roman Agora and has eight faces. Each corner of the tower is strictly oriented to the side of the world, which indicates the development in ancient times of such a science as astronomy.
Alas, a weather vane showing the direction of the wind and made by sculptors in the form of a triton has not survived to this day. Only by the upper frieze of the tower one can now judge one of its main purposes. Each facet of the "Tower of the Winds" is dedicated to one of the eight winds that had Ancient Greece own name.
For example, on the southern edge, the architects placed the figure of the South Wind Noth: it quite often brought long-awaited rains, and therefore was depicted with a vessel filled with water.
On the edge facing the northeast, the Kakiy wind is depicted, which generously sprinkles everything around with hail from its huge shield. On the western side of the most ancient meteorological station” depicts a beautiful wind named Zephyr, which brought warm air masses to Greece. Perhaps that is why flowers fall to the ground from the cloak of the marble figure.
The wind blowing from the north, the Greeks called Boreas, and depicted him on the tower as an ancient old man, vegetating even in warm clothes from the bitter cold. And so 8 winds: Borea (north), Kekia (northeast), Apeliota (east), Evra (southeast), Nota (south), Lipsa (southwest), Zephyra (west) and Skirona (northeast). west).
Under the figures of the winds, bringing people heat or cold, rain or hail destroying crops, there is a marking of a sundial. When the luminary rose from the horizon, the shadow falling on the dial showed the inhabitants of Athens the time. However, as mentioned above, the clock "worked" not only from the sun, when it was hidden behind the clouds, the Athenians could find out about the time with the help of hydraulic clocks. Inside the tower you can see some parts of the former water system. A well-preserved water canal in the form of a circle. All this was necessary to ensure the operation of the water clock, called clepsydra, which was fed by water from the acropolis.
The Tower of the Winds had a small temple of its own. In Greece, all architectural monuments built before our century and during the reign of the Romans were necessarily dedicated to some deity. In this case, we are talking about Athena the Archegydite. Her sanctuary stands on a platform consisting of three steps and is a small building.
At a time when Christianity becomes the main religion in Greece, the “Tower of the Winds” no longer fulfills the functions assigned to it. Byzantine priests decided what was best to do high tower belfry.
During the reign Ottoman Empire the tower becomes something like Mecca. Up to the Greek liberation war an ancient architectural structure served as a place where Muslims offered their prayers to Allah. The “Tower of the Winds” during the Turkish rule was almost completely covered with green banners and decorated with Muslim symbols.
After the liberation of Greece, the tower became a baptistery. Probably, it is precisely due to its location and height that this monument of architecture and science of Ancient Greece was able to survive to our time.
Work on the restoration of the "Tower of the Winds" was started only in the middle of the 19th century. During the times when the tower was not used for its intended purpose, its foundation turned out to be deep underground. Archaeologists have already managed to free the unique structure from the embankment, but before it full recovery still far. In 1976, large-scale restoration work was carried out. True, only a few details of the facade of the building were restored. The legendary hydraulic clock Klepsydra, with its pipes and complex mechanism, was not even tried to be started.
The “Tower of the Winds” served as a prototype for the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford (1794) and the tower of the same name in Sevastopol (1849).
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Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford
Radcliffe Observatory- an astronomical observatory, which worked from 1773 to 1934 at the University of Oxford. Also known as the Oxford Observatory. In 1934 the observatory moved to a new location in Pretoria, South Africa.
View of the observatory
The observatory was built at the expense of a wealthy doctor John Radcliffe, and it was named after him. Thomas Hornsby proposed the creation of an observatory, who in 1769 observed the transit of Venus from his room near the future Radcliffe Observatory.
The Right Honorable Dr. John Radcliffe
Construction of the observatory began in 1772 and was completed in 1794. Architect James Wyeth when drawing up the project, repelled from antique tower Winds in Athens.
James Wyatt
Because of bad conditions For observations at the beginning of the 20th century, it was decided to move the observatory to a place with a more favorable astroclimate. In 1934, the old building of the observatory was sold and the observatory was moved to South Africa.
The old observatory building is now used by Green Templeton University College as the college's central building. The ancient instruments are in the Museum of the History of Science in central Oxford.
Sevastopol Tower of Winds
Tower of the Winds- an architectural monument in the Leninsky district of Sevastopol, one of the few buildings in the city that have survived from its early period.
Commander of the Black Sea Fleet from 1816 to 1833 Alexey Greig created in Sevastopol in 1822 the Maritime Library, which for a long time huddled in government buildings.
Own premises for the library were built on the initiative of the next commander Mikhail Lazarev in 1844 on the city hill.
Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev
But after 8 months, in the same year, the library building burned down. None of his images have survived.
M. Lazarev took the fire in the Maritime Library as a personal grief. According to eyewitnesses, he "...came off his face, turned gray, haggard." I must say that among the naval officers the commander enjoyed great love and authority, seeing that he was so worried, the naval officers themselves announced a fundraiser to restore the burnt building.
Money by the standards of that time was collected quickly - in a year and a half, and in 1846 the restoration of the building began.
The new library building was significantly different from the first one. It was three-story, the first had only two floors, a huge book depository was arranged in the basement, and in order to avoid dampness, a ventilation shaft was erected in 1849, which was called the Tower of the Winds.
The fire of the naval library during the siege of Sevastopol. On the right is the Tower of the Winds. Illustration from V. Simpson's album
Maritime Library
Tower of the Winds and Library
On its roof there was a weather vane, on 8 faces - symbols of the winds taken from Greek mythology. For example: the south wind, bringing rain, was depicted as a man with a jug, and the southwest wind was soft and dry, in the form of a young man pushing the stern of the ship. The wind, falling into one of the eight arched windows, penetrated the book depository, and there was no dampness there. But during the fire that occurred in 1855, it was the tower of the winds that played a fatal role: when the fire penetrated the book depository, the tower served as a hood and valuable copies of books burned out.
M. Lazarev had already died by that time and the library was not restored in its former place, only the Tower of the Winds, which stands on the Central City Hill to this day, has been preserved from it.
The prototype of the Sevastopol Tower of the Winds was the Tower of the Winds in Athens - the oldest meteorological monument, 12 meters high and about 8 meters in diameter, made of marble, built in the middle of the 1st century BC. e., but an earlier date is not ruled out.
The tower was built in 1849 to ventilate the Maritime Library's bookstores. Like the library building that burned down in 1855, it was built by the conductor engineer Dikorev, and the author of the project was probably an engineer-colonel John Upton.
John Upton
On each of the eight sides of the tower there is an allegorical representation of the wind of the corresponding direction in the form of a winged mythological figure with attributes.
The Sevastopol Tower has much in common with the Tower of the Winds in Athens, built in ancient times by the architect Andronik from Kirra, but has more slender proportions. This is an octagonal prismatic structure made of Inkerman stone with a hipped roof topped with a spire. The cornice is decorated with lion heads.
North wind - Boreas- a man in a thick robe, blowing into a curved shell. Northeast wind - Kaikiy- a man carrying and emptying a basket of grenades. Eastern wind - Aphelion- a young man holding a cloak full of fruits and grains.
Southeast wind - Evre- a bearded old man, tightly wrapped in a mantle from the elements. South wind - Note- a man who empties a vessel, creating a downpour. Southwest wind - Lips- a boy pushing the stern of the ship, promising a good wind for navigation. West wind - Zephyr- a young man carrying and scattering flowers. Northwest wind - Skiron- a bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ash and coals.
Was a meteorological monument created more than 20 centuries ago? What was an early example of a wall clock? What is one of the worst enemies of the construction of the Tower of the Winds in Athens? And at what wind do flowers fall from under a cloak, and what kind of hail pours from a round shield?
Athens is a city of legend, a city of history. In the labyrinths of its old quarters, the so-called Tower of the Winds was lost. The Tower of the Winds (chronometer) is an octagonal marble clock tower in Athens. The structure is a combination of a sundial, a water clock, and wind vanes.
According to history, it was built in honor of the goddess Athena Archegetis. The Tower of the Winds is the oldest meteorological monument, 12 meters high and 8 meters in diameter, its faces are strictly oriented to the cardinal points. The sculptural frieze of the Tower depicts winds blowing each from its own side. The erection of this octagonal tower of Pentelicon marble in the Roman agora is attributed to the astronomer Andronicus of Cyrrhus. Traditionally, this event is dated to the middle of the 1st century BC. e., but an earlier date is not ruled out.
This architectural monument has several names. The Athenians usually call it "Aerides", which means "Winds" in translation, and sometimes - "Clepsydra", since we are talking about a hydraulic clock installed inside the tower, which worked on water coming from the Acropolis. Very often this building is called the "Tower of the Winds" or the Temple of Aeolus. The official name of Aerid is the “Clock of Kirrista” (Kirrest), since it is believed that it was built in the 1st century BC. in honor of the goddess Athena Archegetis, the ancient Greek astronomer Andronicus from the Macedonian city of Kirra.
Historian Derek Price says about the Tower of the Winds: “... A bronze disk rotated in the center - a model of the Universe. The figures of the zodiac and the golden sun moved, showing time, horizon lines and meridians. It wasn't just a watch. It was a spectacle, a symbol of human achievement in science…”
In antiquity, the tower was crowned with a weather vane in the form of Triton. The frieze encircling the top of the tower with allegorical images of eight winds has been preserved - Borea (northern), Kekia (northeastern), Apeliota (eastern), Evra (southeastern), Nota (southern), Lipsa (southwestern), Zephyra (western ) and Skiron (northwestern). A clepsydra was built inside the tower, fed by waters from the acropolis. The sides of the tower are oriented to the four parts of the world. In the upper part of each of them there are eight allegorical figures, relief images with explanatory inscriptions, symbolizing the winds.
Reliefs and a weather vane made it possible to determine which wind was blowing in this moment: North wind- Boreas, bearded and wrapped in heavy clothes; cold northeast - Kakiy, pours hail from a round shield; rainy south wind - Note, overturns a vessel with water; from under the cloak of the warm Zephyr, the spring west wind, flowers fall. Under the figures of the winds there is a marking of the sun dial, since the Tower of the Winds served to measure time, so it is no coincidence Greek name structures - “orologion”, that is, “(sun)dial”. When the sun did not shine, a water clock was used, which contributed to the continuous measurement of time.
The small sanctuary of Athena Archegetis is an octagonal building standing on a three-stage platform. The tower is crowned with a conical ceramic roof and has a round extension with south side, as well as two propylons of the Corinthian order - from the northeast and from the northwest. Inside the tower you can see some parts of the former water system. A well-preserved water canal in the form of a circle. All this was necessary to ensure the operation of the water clock, called clepsydra. Today, this tower is more than 20 centuries old, but it still changes little. The Greeks call it Aerides, which translates very simply - the wind.
The latest study showed that high altitude tower was motivated by the intention to place sundial and an air vane so that they can be seen from all sides. Thus, this is one of the earliest examples of wall clocks.
Astronomer Andronicus is famous not only for the Tower of the Winds. He made, for example, a sundial with a dial in the shape of a bowl, hollowed out in a block of stone. The clock was installed in the temple of Poseidon on the island of Tinos and has survived to this day. On their plinth are depicted Poseidon's animals - dolphins.
At the beginning of Christian times, the building was used as the bell tower of the Byzantine Church. Under Muslim influence, it became Mecca, and was used for Muslim services. During the 18th century it became a prayer place for Muslims. They decorated it with green flags and other sacred symbols of Mohammed, and every Friday they held mass gatherings of dervishes and religious dances there. In the early years of Christianity, the Tower of the Winds becomes a shrine and turns into a font. With the advent of Christianity, the tower was turned into a baptistery. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was freed from age-old layers.
For many centuries of its existence, the base of the tower has gone deep underground. In the middle of the 19th century, it was cleared of the embankment, so that already at the end of the same century the tower was used as a temporary museum of ancient finds discovered during the excavations carried out by the Athenian Archaeological Society. At the beginning of the 20th century, restoration work was carried out under the guidance of the famous Greek archaeologist and architect Anastasios Orlandos. , and internally, therefore, by decision of the Central Archaeological Council, restoration work will again be carried out in the Tower of the Winds.
Aerides, or Tower of the Winds, the most important monument on the Roman Agora in Athens, will soon be restored. The first step on this path has already been taken during the meeting of the Central Archaeological Council (CAC), at which its members advocated the protection of the hydraulic Kirrista Clock. As noted, one of the worst enemies of the structure is humidity. In this regard, according to the CAS, the project to restore the monument of architecture should be completed as soon as possible by the 1st Inspectorate for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, responsible for carrying out the work.
The tower inspired English designers to build the Radcliffe Observatory in the 18th century. at Oxford. Also this tower inspired the creation of the Tower of Marsocco in Livorno. There is a similar tower in Sevastopol, it was built in 1849. Another structure similar to the Tower of the Winds is the Temple of the Winds, on Mount Stewart near Newtownards in Northern Ireland.
On holidays, the Tower of the Winds does not work, the rest of the time you can come here daily. The entrance is paid, and in order to get here, you must first find Plaka (the oldest part of Athens), then the Roman Agora, and it will be very easy to navigate there.
[As a result of two defenses - from the British / French during the Crimean War and the Germans during the Great Patriotic War, and then a complex military operation to expel the Nazis - there are not so many old buildings left in the city of Russian naval glory, reminiscent of the first years of its existence. But some surviving buildings still adorn Sevastopol. The Tower of the Winds is one of them.
Where is the facility located in Sevastopol?
Although the attraction is not too striking now, as it is largely covered by the foliage of overgrown trees and is not too high compared to modern high-rise buildings, it is not difficult to decide how to get here. Leninsky district is one of the central ones. The map will tell you that not far from here lie such famous highways as Sovetskaya and Lunacharskogo streets, and there is the famous Tomb of the Admirals.
Tower on the map of Crimea
Open map
From the history of appearance
Initially, in the city of Sevastopol, the Tower of the Winds was part of the Maritime Library, namely, the ventilation system of the underground book depository. This institution had a difficult fate. The first building, built in 1844 on the initiative of the fleet commander M.P. Lazarev, at the end of the same year, completely, along with books, died during a fire. The famous called this event "the Sevastopol tragedy."
Sailors and townspeople did not give up. In 1849 the library was rebuilt, but according to a different project. The building became taller, a storage facility was arranged in the basement. Additional ventilation was required to eliminate the high humidity that was detrimental to books. Architectural project was developed by Colonel John Upton, the “foreman” of the construction was the conductor engineer Dikorev (he also built the first building).
But even the second time, the educational place was not destined to have a long life. It burned down again in 1855 - during. Only the tower of the winds, which stood separately, survived, although an army observation post was set up in it. The technical function of this design played a cruel joke on the library - the ventilation in the basement turned out to be too good, so valuable literature burned perfectly.
The library was no longer built here, but the tower was preserved. She also managed to survive the second Sevastopol epic. In 1979, it was taken under protection as a monument of republican significance. Today she takes pride of place among.
But the Crimean Hero City is not the only place in the world where there is a Tower of Winds. Sevastopol shares this honor with Greece. Athens can boast of a similar structure, and an older one built on the eve of the beginning of our era. There are many similarities between the two monuments. Undoubtedly, John Upton took the Greek design as a model when he came up with his project. Admiral Lazarev was a connoisseur of antiquity, and his subordinates respected him and sought to please him. But there are many differences between the two buildings, so the Sevastopol monument cannot be considered a copy.
Since much in the life of both the Greeks and Sevastopol depends on the sea, the wind in these places cannot be ignored. Both towers are octagons in plan, oriented, 
like a compass card, to the cardinal points. Each side is decorated with a bas-relief depicting the deity of the corresponding breath - according to the traditions of Greek mythology. Image attributes emphasize the "character" of the wind. So, the northern Sevastopol Borey is dressed in a thick cloak, the southern Noth pours water from a vessel, because it brings rain, and the southwestern Lips, as the most convenient way for sailing ships to leave the harbor, pushes the ship into the stern.
This is where the similarity ends. The Athenian memo is larger, has three entrances, but no windows. Quite a different picture is observed in the Crimea. As you can see in the photo, the Tower of Winds in Sevastopol has no entrance at all (it was built for technical purposes). But she has window openings - graceful arches on the second tier. They give lightness to the structure, neutralizing the heavy first floor of Inkerman stone, which creates the impression of power and impregnability. The cone-shaped roof covered with iron is crowned with a weather vane - the most faithful servant and messenger of the winds. Previously, there were water clocks inside, and a sundial outside.
The Tower of the Winds is not one of the most famous and advertised sights today. Part of the reason is that there are more famous places nearby. Reviews of tourists note that a relatively small building is somewhat lost against the background of modern buildings, therefore it does not attract enough attention. But those who still pay attention to the monument, its classical symmetry and severity of lines do not leave indifferent.
How to get (get there)?
To get to the Tower of the Winds from the bus station, take the minibus number 109 and follow to the stop "Lenin Komsomol square", then go about 400 m to the north-west.
By car from the city center can be reached in this way:
Open map
Note to the tourist
- Address: Frunze street, Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia.
- Coordinates: 44.610980, 33.523995.
It is a pity that the difficult fate of Sevastopol left him few objects that vividly remind of the glorious deeds of the past. But the good thing is that the residents of the city cherish the legacy they have left and try to present it to tourists in at its best. As a result, the Tower of Winds is maintained in a state worthy of a republican monument, and guests can view it at any time, with benefit and pleasure.
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Walking around ancient Athens, visit an amazing architectural monument - the Tower of the Winds. This attraction also performs a practical function - there is a working weather station.
The Athenian Tower of the Winds has other names. The Athenians themselves often call the Tower of the Winds "Clepsydra" or "Aerides". Note that it is in the word "Aerides" that the emphasis is on the winds, while the name "Clepsydra" indicates another feature of the tower: there is a hydraulic clock that indicates the time by the sun.
The official name of the attraction is the Kirrista Clock, as according to legend, the Tower of the Winds was built by an astronomer from the city of Kirra.
What to see
The Tower of the Winds was built according to the most conservative estimates in the first century BC. Although some scholars believe that she appeared in Athens even earlier. The monument is 12 meters high and 8 meters in diameter.
On the friezes of the tower you can see images that personify the wind rose.
The Tower of the Winds was built from Pentelicon marble, the building rises on a three-stage platform. The conical roof is covered with ceramic roofing. On the friezes of the tower you can see images that personify the wind rose. Moreover, the gods flaunt on those sides of the building from where the corresponding winds blow.
On north side The Tower of the Winds is depicted by Boreas, in the northeast - Kaikiy, in the east - Aphelios, in the southeast - Eurus, in the south - Not, in the southwest - Lips, in the west - Zephyr, in the northwest - Skiron.
It is here that you will find evidence that the Tower of the Winds was once used to measure time. Under the figures of the gods, a dial is marked, which showed the time for sunshine. The Athenians also used a water clock so that the time could be known even when there was no sun.
Scholars believe that the Tower of the Winds became a church in Christian times. With the advent of Muslims in Athens, the abode of dervishes was located here.
Note that the condition of the Tower of the Winds leaves much to be desired. It is destroyed both internally and externally. Therefore, the authorities of Athens decided to restore this architectural monument.
How to get there
The Tower of the Winds is located in the oldest part of Athens - Plaka. It is located near the Roman Agora. Tour of the Roman Agora includes a visit to the Tower of the Winds.
If you decide not to use the services of professional guides and travel around Athens on your own, then in order to get to the Tower of the Winds, you can use the services public transport. To Plaka from the central part modern Athens can be reached by bus number 025 or tram - you need to get off at the Monastiraki stop. You can also get there by metro, Monastiraki station is nearby.
A ticket to the Tower of the Winds along with a visit to the Roman Agora costs 3 EUR. You can also get here with the tickets of the Acropolis.
Prices on the page are for August 2018.
A subscription to the Acropolis costs 20 EUR. On it, you can see six more attractions of Athens for four days: the Ancient and Roman agora, the theater of Dionysus, keramikos, the temple of Zeus, the library of Hadrian.
Practical information
Address of the Tower of the Winds: Greece, Athens, Eolou / Pepopida Street, Roman Agora.
Among the vast number architectural monuments ancient Greece of special attention, of course, deserves located on the territory of the Roman Agora in Athens famous Tower winds, or Clock tower Andronikos of Cyrus (the Athenians often refer to the tower simply as "Aeridis", which means "wind" in Greek). It is traditionally believed that the tower was built in the middle of the 1st century BC. by the famous Greek astronomer Andronicus from Kirr, although scientists still do not exclude that the structure was erected a little earlier, perhaps in the 2nd century BC.
The Tower of the Winds is an impressive octagonal structure made of Pentelicon marble, about 12 m high and about 8 m in diameter. Unfortunately, the weather vane has not survived to this day, but on the frieze encircling the upper part of the tower, you can still see images of the eight divine winds of ancient Greek mythology - Boreas, Kekia, Apeliot, Evra, Nota, Lips, Zephyr and Skiron. Under the figures of the deities there was a sundial, and inside the tower there was a water clock or the so-called clepsydra, the water to which was supplied from the Acropolis.
In the early Christian period, the Tower of the Winds was used as a church bell tower, and during the Turkish rule as a "tekke" - the abode of dervishes. By the 19th century, when the Athenian Archaeological Society began to study this ancient monument, the tower was almost half covered with earth.
Among the most famous buildings, erected in the image and likeness of the famous Athenian tower, it is worth noting the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford (18th century), the tower of the same name in Sevastopol (1849), the Temple of Carnaby in East Yorkshire (1170) and the Temple of the Winds, towering at the foot of Mount Stewart in North Ireland.
