Mike's review
Visited 2019The Parthenon is the obvious headline, but it does not feel like a single photo stop when you are up there. The restoration work, missing sculpture, damaged edges, and surviving colonnades all make it feel active, almost like Athens is still arguing with its own past.
Walk the long sides, look back toward the city, and let the scaffolding be part of the record. It is a ruin, a repair project, and the visual center of the whole Acropolis at once.
From the source
The Parthenon dominates the Acropolis plateau with eight Doric columns across each end and seventeen along each side. Iktinos and Kallikrates designed it, while Pheidias directed the sculptural program. Construction began in 447 BCE, and the temple was dedicated to Athena Parthenos. An Ionic frieze ran around the cella inside the Doric colonnade, and a gold-and-ivory statue of Athena once stood in the main chamber.
The building later served as a church and a mosque. In 1687, gunpowder stored inside exploded during the Venetian siege, causing much of the surviving damage. The figures seen on the building today are mainly replacements. Original sculptures are divided among the Acropolis Museum, British Museum, and other collections. The Parthenon sits within the Acropolis ticketed site and has no separate interior access.
Supporting source: Legacy import provenance
Plan your visit
Hours
Follows Acropolis access: April-August daily 08:00-20:00; September closes from 19:30 to 19:00; October from 18:30 to 18:00; November-March 08:00-17:00.
Features & amenities
What to bring
- Water
- comfortable shoes
Good to know
- Photos allowed
Tags
In my guides
Where Parthenon comes up in my writing.
More near here
Other pins within walking distance of Parthenon.
Planning Athens
The rest of my Athens saves, on the city's planning pages.