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Portara Gate - the pride of Naxos

Per Nørgaard

The marble Portára Gate, a remnant of what was supposed to be a magnificent temple, but was never completed. It was the tyrant Lygdamis who sometime in the sixth century BC . realized that he would be able to erect a structure the likes of which no one had seen before. It came with the experiment. Admittedly, he got further than just having a portal erected. But in the centuries that followed, the island's political and religious authorities provided themselves with marble columns and other building parts, so now only the entrance portal remains. It is clearly visible where it stands by itself out on the Palátia peninsula a short distance from the harbour. There is an eternal stream of tourists who make the short trip out there to see the landmark from a short distance and be photographed in front of the icon. On the way out, they pass the copy of the unfinished sculpture of the unhappy Ariadne, who took her own life due to love-sorrow.



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