The treasure houses of the Archaic and Early Classical periods in Olympia have been the subject of research since June 2018. The new study is based on the estate of the building researcher Klaus Herrmann, who died in 2015, with the aim of bringing all the information on the buildings to a final publication. To this end, a new overall plan of the Treasury Terrace and new building photographs of series of previously unrecorded architectural elements as well as computer drawings of the reconstruction of the Treasure Houses were developed. Another interesting question is the provenance of many of these buildings from the home towns of the western Greek colonies in Lower Italy, Sicily and Albania.
In the years between 2018 and 2023, research was carried out on the treasuries of the Archaic and Early Classical periods in Olympia. The study is based on the legacy of Klaus Herrmann, the architectural historian and long-time excavation architect of Olympia, who died in 2015; the aim of the study was to compile all the material and information on the buildings in a final publication. To this end, a new overall plan of the Terrace of the Treasuries was drawn up in the form of a ground plan and cross-sections; in addition, new architectural surveys were carried out on a series of about 300 architectural elements that had not yet been recorded, and computer drawings of the reconstruction of the Treasuries were made in order to visualize them as far as possible as a whole. On this basis, further questions arise, such as the architectural-historical development of the Terrace of the Treasuries and the provenance of many of these buildings from the home towns of the Western Greek colonies in southern Italy, Sicily and Albania. It is clear that both their stone elements and their clay roof decorations reflect the traditions of the founding cities and are thus important testimonies of Western Greek representation in the motherland. In this new, comprehensive volume, the prominent building complex of the German Olympia excavation of 1877/78, which had already been studied before Herrmann by the architectural historians Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Hans Schleif, and Altred Mallwitz, finally receives the final evaluation and recognition it deserves. The presentation of the treasuries has long been a desideratum in the field of archaeological building research for the knowledge of the architecture of both Olympia and the respective founding cities, and thus fills an important gap in our understanding.
Dipl.-lng. Klaus Herrmann (194D-2015) was a research assistant at the TU Munich from
1985 to 2003, he was a scientific consultant at the DAI Athens and excavation architect at Olympia. He wrote numerous publications on Olympia and also carried out anastyloses there.
Dr.-lng. habil. Markus Wolf (born 1965) has been a research assistant at the BTU Cottbus since
2001 as a research assistant at the DAI Rome on projects in southern Italy and Olympia. He has written numerous publications, primarily on Hellenistic architecture (housing, public buildings, temples and sanctuaries) in Lower Italy and Sicily.
Preface