Kore

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The Temple of Aphaia is situated at the heart of a sacred complex honoring the goddess Aphaia on the Greek island of Aigina, which lies within the Saronic Gulf. Construction of a new temple got underway shortly after the destruction of its predecessor. The remnants of the ruined temple were cleared from the site of the new temple and used to fill a roughly 40 by 80 meter terrace within the overall sanctuary measuring around 80 by 80 meters in size. This new temple platform was aligned with the north, west, and south orientations of the new temple's design. The temple itself is a hexastyle peripteral Doric structure resting on a 6 by 12 column plan atop a 15.5 by 30.5 meter foundation; it features a distyle in antis cella accompanied by an opisthodomos and a pronaos. All but three of the outer columns are monolithic. A small, off-center entrance connects the cella to the opisthodomos. In similar design but with greater grandeur than its earlier counterpart, the cella of the new temple boasts two rows of five columns supporting another level of columns that extends up to the roof. The corners of the roof are adorned with sphinx acroteria, while the central, vegetal acroterion on each side is topped by a pair of kore statues standing one on either side, an unusual feature. The antefixes and roof tiles are crafted from marble.