ACROPOLIS: THE JEWEL OF ATHENS

JUST BREATHTAKING! I don’t think there is anybody that has visited Athens and has missed a visit to Acropolis: the greatest and finest sanctuary of Ancient Athens dedicated primarily to Goddess Athena. If you can visit on a weekday, it is absolutely better since you avoid the many visitors that are usually there.

Have you visited the Acropolis before? You can see the Acropolis from so many different parts of the city and the view from the top is stunning.

The naturally fortified hill of the Acropolis:

• is almost 2500 years old
• was the most important sanctuary of Athens
• was erected on the initiative of Pericles in the 5th century; the important political leader and responsible for the total development of both the Athenian empire and democracy, making Athens a hegemonic power among the Greeks .
• has as main building material the Pentelic marble. The damage we see is due to its internal sctructure, the action of environmental & biological reasons & human activity . (this marble can be found in a mountain 10 miles to the northeast of Athens , called Penteli).

Angel’s tip: last time i visited Acropolis there were some tour guides outside the entrance. One guide asked us if we wanted some extra info and since we accepted he joined us with a fee for 45 minutes. Information was really interesting and even i had learnt many of them at school, memory doesn’t help after so many years… Try them!

The buildings that dominate today the Sacred Rock are:

1.The Temple of Athena Nike: dedicated to the goddesses Nike and Athena. A small temple right of the entrance of Acropolis that represents fights between Greeks and Persians, along with congress between the gods. Architect is Kallikratis and order is Ionic.*

2. The Propylaia : the monumental impressive entrance to Acropolis of mainly Doric order, as you can see in the picture below, with architect Mnicicles. In front of me in the central building surrounded by 2 wards, on the south and north side.

3. The Erechtheion: incredible arthitecture, elegant building of Ionic order and absolutely impressive. You can see it on your left hand entering Acropolis. Took its name from the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus. Absolutely loved the south side of the building where you can see the Caryatids: 6 gorgeous female statues as columns. (today these are copies, 5 original are in the Acropolis museum & 1 in the British museum in London**)

4. The Parthenon: the absolute symbol of Ancient Athens and most incredible temple in Acropolis dedicated to goddess Athena, the daugther of Zeus and goddess of Wisdom/Arts/War/Literature. It was the largest and most lavish temple the Greek mainland had ever seen.  It has religious importance but the temple was acting also as a treasury, since the gold and the gun powder was kept in it, and as a war monument due to the representation of the war of the centaurs. Architects : Iktinos and Kallicrates. Sculptor: Pheidias. Mainly built in Doric order.

Though Parthenon may appear with geometrical symmetry, there is not! Columns are not straight but bent towards the inside.

Entrance fee : 20 Euros or for free if you are under 25 /older than 65 yrs old , if you are unemployed or belong to a big family etc. Free admission to the Acropolis on these days as well: March 6th , April and May 18th, last weekend of September, October 28th, and every Sunday from November 1 to March 31.

Angel’s tip: book online in advance to skip the lines, especially on weekends it is usually crowded. Weekdays are the best.

*An architectural order describes a style of building. The 3 main classical orders of Greek Architecturε are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, in Acropolis we meet the first two.

**Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removed several sculptures from Acropolis around 1800 and the one caryatid from Erechtheion. These are now known as the Elgin Marbles.  The sculptures were later sold and are located now in the British Museum in London UK. The Greek government has been trying to have the sculptures returned to Greece.

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