Restanten van de Poseidontempel op Kaap Soenion 1898

Johannes Lodewijk Heldring captured the remnants of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in this photograph. The standing columns evoke a deep sense of the sublime, a visual echo of the ancient world. These pillars, reaching towards the heavens, remind us of humanity's eternal quest for order and meaning. The column, a motif stretching back to the earliest civilizations, appears in different forms. Think of the Egyptian obelisks, or even the totems erected by indigenous cultures. They all share this vertical striving. The fractured state of the temple introduces another layer. Ruins, as potent symbols of time's passage and the transience of human endeavor, stir profound emotions. We see them later, don't we, in Romantic paintings, overgrown with vegetation, as a reflection on mortality and the inevitable decline. This isn't just a picture of stones; it's a mirror reflecting our own fleeting existence.