Siphnian Treasury
Delfi Municipality, Greece
No longer standing
Demolished or destroyed.
Built around 525 BC at Delphi, the Siphnian Treasury was erected by the wealthy island city-state of Siphnos to house votive offerings to Apollo and proclaim its prestige along the Sacred Way. Constructed entirely of Parian marble—a first among religious buildings—it was financed by a tithe of the city's vast income from silver and gold mines. One of the earliest surviving treasuries of its kind, the building is notable for its sculptural program, which illustrates a stylistic transition from the rigid forms of Archaic Greek art toward the more fluid, dynamic figures of the Classical period, particularly visible in the contrast between the east pediment and the friezes. Though reduced to ruins over centuries, its decorated remains stood longer than many monuments, preserved in part by the veneration of subsequent generations. Sculptures from the treasury and a reconstruction of the building are now housed in the Delphi Archaeological Museum.
Movement
- Type
- treasury (ancient Greece), destroyed building or structure
- Materials
- Parian marble
- Heritage
- archaeological site in Greece
- Place
- Delfi Municipality, Greece
This building on
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Location