Lost Beauties of the Acropolis: What Mathematics Can Say

By Antonio Fasano (professor of analytical mechanics at the University of Florence)

and Roberto Natalini (mathematician at the Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo of CNR, in Rome)

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The picture of the caryatids in the celebrated Erechtheion on the Acropolis (Figure 1) stands as heartbreaking evidence of an invaluable culturalheritage that we have lost forever.
By this we mean that the current generation is responsible for the deterioration of the caryatids, as well as for the devastation of many otherstone masterpieces that, until recently, had remained intact for thousands of years. Paradoxically, even as we participate in their destruction, we respect these masterpieces from the past and take pride in scientific methods devised to preserve
them.
The list of great monuments and frescoes destroyed or seriously damaged by negligence, or even purposely, has been painfully long for many years. The most lethal attacks, however, have come in the last few decades, from a silent enemy: air pollution. Temples like the Taj Mahal in Agra have come to us with their finest details still intact because they are situated in non-polluted areas.
Chemistry, of course, has the most to reveal about the causes of marble degradation. A survey of the chemical (and biological) processes involved in both the degradation and the restoration of marble can be found in…
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