Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization, and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry and more from Ancient Greece.
The city of Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. Athens began as a small, Mycenaen community and grew to become a city that, at its height, epitomized the best of Greek virtues and enjoyed such prestige that the Spartans refused to sack the city or enslave the citizens, even after Athens' defeat in the Peloponnesian War. This set a model that would be followed by future conquerors who would defeat Athens but not destroy it.
The city that gave birth to democracy, the sciences and fine arts is ready to reveal its secrets. Athens: the city of history and ancient civilization – the Parthenon, Acropolis and the Ancient Agora. At the same time a modern, vibrant megalopolis, full of energy, day and night. A city belonging to humanity and Mediterranean light. This mighty city has contributed to world history and culture time and again, making itself immortal; an actor beyond the constraints of time’s usual boundaries.
The place to Visit in Athens:
1. Parthenon
The temple that dominates the hill of the Acropolis at Athens. It was built in the mid-5th century BCE and dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos (“Athena the Virgin”). The temple is generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order, the simplest of the three Classical Greek architectural orders.
2. Acropolis
The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world. In the second half of the fifth-century bc, Athens, following the victory against the Persians and the establishment of democracy, took a leading position amongst the other city-states of the ancient world. In the age that followed, as thought and art flourished, an exceptional group of artists put into effect the ambitious plans of Athenian statesman Pericles and, under the inspired guidance of the sculptor Pheidias, transformed the rocky hill into a unique monument of thought and the arts. The most important monuments were built during that time: the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, the Erechtheon, the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, designed by Mnesicles and the small temple Athena Nike.
3. Benaki Museum
The Benaki Museum was founded in 1930 by the collector Antonis Benakis. Born into an important family of the Greek diaspora, Benakis’s father, Emmanouil Benakis, was a Greek merchant and politician who immigrated to Alexandria, where he made his fortune in cotton. Returning to Greece, Emmanouil would be elected mayor of Athens in 1914 and help resettle refugees after the war in Asia Minor. His six children included the writer Penelope Delta and Antonis, who was born in Alexandria and began his practice of collecting there. In the late 1920s, after he settled in Greece, Antonis Benakis donated his entire collection to the Greek state. The resulting Benaki Museum remains one of the most important museums in the country, with six branches, four archives, and an extensive library. The collection today consists of more than five hundred thousand objects, spanning the spectrum of Greek art and culture, as well as pieces from Islamic, pre-Colombian, African, and Chinese art. The museum offers a unique account of Greek civilization, interpreting its artistic and intellectual aspects by placing it in dialogue with the development of the larger world.
4. Temple of Olympian Zeus
https://www.ancient.eu/image/4005/
The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, also known as the Olympieion, was built over several centuries starting in 174 BCE and only finally completed by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 CE. Its unusually tall columns and ambitious layout made the temple one of the largest ever built in the ancient world.
Located south-east of Athens’ acropolis near the River Ilissos, the temple would become the city’s largest. The site shows evidence of habitation from the Neolithic period while Pausanias claimed the ancient sanctuary to Zeus was first created at the site by the mythical figure of Deukalion. The earliest archaeological evidence of a temple in the area dates to the 6th century BCE. The tyrant Peisistratos the Younger began to build a new and much bigger Doric temple in 515 BCE. The plans were devised by the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, and Antimachides but work got no further than the limestone base before Peisistratos was deposed and the project was abandoned.
5. Byzantine & Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum, which is based in Athens, is one of Greece’s national museums. Its areas of competency are centered on – but not limited to – religious artifacts of the Early Christian, Byzantine, Medieval, post-Byzantine and later periods which it exhibits, but also acquires, receives, preserves, conserves, records, documents, researches, studies, publishes and raises awareness of.
The museum has over 25,000 artifacts in its possession. The artifacts date from between the 3rd and 20th century AD and their provenance encompasses the entire Greek world, as well as regions in which Hellenism flourished. The size and range of the collections and value of the exhibits make the Museum a veritable treasury of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and culture.
6. Odeon of Herodes Atticus
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens: Built at the base of the Acropolis, the ancient amphitheatre of Herodeion, also known as the Odeon of Herodus Atticus, is today one of the best places to experience a live classical theatre performance. This ancient theater was built in the Roman times, in about 161 A.D. by the Roman philosopher, teacher, and politician Herodes Atticus. It was built in the memory of his wife Aspasia Regilla who died in 160 AD. This semi-circular amphitheater has a wide 1,250 feet radius with a seating capacity of more than 6,000 people. The original wall of the stage stood three stories high and was decorated with marbles and ceramic pieces while today it stands in ruins. The stage and seating area were laid with marble while it has been renovated today. A cedar-wooden roof covered the theatre in the ancient times.
7. Benaki Museum Pireos Annexe
The Benaki Museum was founded in 1930 by the collector Antonis Benakis. Born into an important family of the Greek diaspora, Benakis’s father, Emmanouil Benakis, was a Greek merchant and politician who immigrated to Alexandria, where he made his fortune in cotton. Returning to Greece, Emmanouil would be elected mayor of Athens in 1914 and help resettle refugees after the war in Asia Minor. His six children included the writer Penelope Delta and Antonis, who was born in Alexandria and began his practice of collecting there. In the late 1920s, after he settled in Greece, Antonis Benakis donated his entire collection to the Greek state. The resulting Benaki Museum remains one of the most important museums in the country, with six branches, four archives, and an extensive library. The collection today consists of more than five hundred thousand objects, spanning the spectrum of Greek art and culture, as well as pieces from Islamic, pre-Colombian, African, and Chinese art. The museum offers a unique account of Greek civilization, interpreting its artistic and intellectual aspects by placing it in dialogue with the development of the larger world.
8. Museum of Islamic Art
MIA’s masterpieces come from diverse societies - both secular and spiritual. Pieces in the collection are all connected by Islam, but many are non-religious in nature.They are drawn from the treasure‐houses of princes and the personal homes of ordinary people. Each object tells a fascinating story about its origins, providing an experience that extends far beyond the physical gallery space. Discover the beauty of Islamic art and realize its international influence.
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