Nikolaos Balanos

• Name — Nikolaos Balanos • Native Name — Νικόλαος Μπαλάνος • Born — 1869 • Birthplace — Athens, Greece • Died — 22 September 1943 (aged) • Education — École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris • Occupation — Architect • Known for — Restorations of the Acropolis of Athens

After studying at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, he became Director of the Technical Department of the Greek Ministry of Public Instruction. In 1932, at the 350th anniversary of the University of Würzburg, he was named Doctor honoris causa of the Faculty of Arts.

• Illustration — A capital of the Parthenon lying on its side in 1899 In 1894, Balanos was given responsibility for the restoration of the Parthenon, which had been damaged in earthquakes over the previous year. The supervising committee appointed by the Greek Archaeological Service to oversee the work had decided to make a partial reconstruction of the temple, which would strengthen the damaged parts and replace, where necessary, ancient marble with modern. They also decided to use, as far as possible, the original building methods — specifically, dry-stone masonry held together with metal clamps — in the restoration work. The restorations were notionally supervised by the English, German and French architects Francis Penrose, Josef Durm and Lucien Magne, but the operational direction was delegated to the 'Committee for the Conservation of the Parthenon', a body which included academics, members of Athens' foreign schools of archaeology, and representatives of the Greek government. Nikolaos Balanos, Athens' Chief Engineer of Public Works, was invited to join this committee after its formation, and effectively took control of the reconstructions, operating, according to the archaeological historian Fani Mallouchou-Tufano, "independently and unchecked". The first phase of the practical work of restoration took place between 1898 and 1902, replacing parts of the upper columns in the Parthenon's opisthodomos and west façade as well as most of the structural blocks behind the west frieze. Balanos also disassembled, repaired and reinforced several parts of the temple, particularly its pediments. By 1900, Balanos had also restored one of the twelve marble sections of the roof of the Propylaia. Between 1902 and 1909, he restored the Erechtheion, using a combination of original and new material: he rebuilt the ceilings of the north and south porches, as well as large parts of the south, west and north walls. Balanos' final restorations were of the Temple of Athena Nike, which he began in 1935. The temple had originally been reconstructed under Ludwig Ross and Kyriakos Pittakis between 1835 and 1847, but sudden subsidence under its crepidoma had left it in danger of collapse. Balanos dismantled the temple, and rebuilt it up to the orthostates, making a tentative restoration of the upper parts of the temple which was later completed by Anastasios Orlandos in 1940. Along with the German archaeologist Gabriel Welter, Balanos excavated the tower on which the temple was built, as part of which he found remains of the Mycenaean fortifications of the acropolis as well as traces of the worship of Athena from the Archaic period. In 1939, Balanos' own ill health and the approach of the Second World War forced him to abandon the project. Balanos' use of the term has been credited for the international recognition of the word anastylosis to refer to reconstructing monuments with the use of original fragments.

• The Anastylosis on the North Colonnade of the Parthenon (1936) • The Erechtheum (1927) • The Monuments of the Acropolis, documentation and conservation (1928),