Guide to the Acropolis of Athens, Greece (with Map & Photos)

Acropolis of Athens (Greece) - description, history, location. The exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and map.

Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens

The Acropolis of Athens (Ακρόπολη Αθηνών). It is located in the city of Athens, which is the capital of Greece today. The place enjoys an excellent Mediterranean climate. Traveling to The Acropolis is an excellent destination because of the ease of getting there. To travel to the Acropolis it is only necessary to travel to the city of Athens, either by air or by land.

History


The Acropolis was a great cult center, located at the top of the city of Athens, in which the Greeks venerated their gods and celebrated the events that occurred in their history. Acropolis etymologically means “city on top”, since it is located on the top of the city. This place is (although it has been deteriorated by its time and by the hand of modern man) full of statues and figures on its walls that represent all kinds of scenes from Greek mythology.

Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens

The most important place on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, which is a temple dedicated to the guardian goddess of Athens: The goddess Athena. Inside this temple, there is an exhibition of the great sculptural, aesthetic, architectural and mathematical capacity of the Greeks.

For these reasons alone, it can be said that traveling to The Acropolis is a wonderful experience. However, we are going to tell you more compelling reasons why The Acropolis is considered one of the wonders of the modern world.

Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens

The Acropolis dates from 450 BC. approximately. This means that it is almost 2,500 years old. As you can see, it is an impressively engineered structure, so not only is it beautiful but it has been so well designed that it still stands today.

The Parthenon, the main temple of the Acropolis, is a bit deteriorated but it is not precisely because of the passage of time, but because there, when the Turks in 1687 invaded Athens, they deposited the gunpowder and in an accident there was a great explosion. Even with an explosion of such magnitude the Parthenon and the Acropolis are preserved. Many of his statues are still well preserved there, however, many of them were sold to the British museum, losing the place invaluable pieces of their magic.

World Heritage


The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the spirit and classical civilization and make up the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by ancient Greece to the world. In the second half of the 5th century BC, Athens, following the victory against the Persians and the establishment of democracy, took a leading position among the other states of the ancient world. In the centuries that followed, an exceptional group of artists put into effect the ambitious projects of the Athenian statesman Pericles and, under the inspired guidance of the sculptor Pheidias, the rocky hill was transformed into a unique monument of thought and letters. 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, etc.

Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens

Parthenon - the most important temple of Ancient Athens


The central, highest point of the Acropolis panorama is the Parthenon temple, dedicated to Athena, the patroness of the city. This is the pinnacle of creativity of the architect Iktin, who acted, however, not alone, but with a team of like-minded people. The material for the temple was white marble quarried nearby, which in the sunlight acquired a golden sheen. These features of the stone have become noticeable now, and in ancient times, the temple and all the statues were painted in bright colors - red, blue, yellow.

Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens

All work, from the creation of the project to the decoration of the Parthenon, was carried out under Pericles, from 447 to 432. BC NS. As conceived by the architects, the temple on the Athenian Acropolis was supposed to surpass all that existed before. Formally, this is a rectangular building, resting on three marble steps and surrounded by a colonnade over 10 m high. People entered the temple through the western entrance with low steps. What tourists see today are the steps with columns.

The merit of the architects lies in the fact that they put the laws of optics at the service of architecture. The columns expand in the center, the corner columns and the floor are angled - all this gives the observer a sense of strict straightness. In addition, thanks to the tricks of the architects, the Parthenon looks strictly proportional from any point of view - both from the territory of the Lower City and when approaching it.

Acropolis of Athens Map