Nereid Monument

The Nereid Monument rises like a small columned temple above a high base. It was a tomb at Xanthos in Lycia, in present-day southwest Turkey. The elevated burial form and the Greek-style architecture brought different building traditions together. Figures stand between the columns, with clothing carved as if caught by movement. They are usually identified as Nereids, sea nymphs, though that identification remains an interpretation. The monument is thought to have belonged to the Lycian ruler known as Erbinna or Arbinas. The gallery reconstruction gives the surviving pieces an architectural relationship again. Other sculpture lets you examine details closer to eye level. Look between the raised structure and the loose fragments. Some parts help you understand the whole tomb, while others preserve only a portion of a figure or scene.