Atlas (architecture)

The pose and expression of Atlantes very often show their effort to bear the heavy load of the building, which is rarely the case with terms and caryatids.

The herma or herm is a classical boundary marker or wayside monument to a god which is usually a square pillar with only a carved head on top, about life-size, and male genitals at the appropriate mid-point.

Their inclusion in the final design for the portico of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg that was built for Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in the 1840’s made the use of atlantes especially fashionable.

The Hermitage portico incorporates ten enormous atlantes, approximately three times life-size, carved from Serdobol granite, which were designed by Johann Halbig and executed by the sculptor Alexander Terebenev.

Similar carved stone columns or pillars in the shape of fierce men at some sites of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica are typically called Atlantean figures.