Our best-selling sightseeing experience. This city tour takes place in downtown Athens with a visit to the Acropolis citadel and the Acropolis museum.
The acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and the Greek civilization. It is considered the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still existing in our times.
At the top of the Acropolis lies the Parthenon, a former temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the citizens of Athens considered as their protector. The Parthenon is an octastyle Doric temple with Ionic architectural features. The construction of the Parthenon began in 447 BC and was completed in 432 BC. The Parthenon was built primarily by men who knew how to work marble. These quarrymen had exceptional skills and were able to cut the blocks of marble to very specific measurements.
In 1975 the Greek government started a concerted effort to restore the Parthenon and the Acropolis structures after facing severe damage during various historical periods, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The new Acropolis Museum was constructed on the south side of the Acropolis at a distance of 300 meters from its monuments. The Museum’s foundations were completed on the 30th of January 2004 and its opening took place on the 20th of June 2009. The Museum’s exhibition units are mainly topographical and thematic. The first large gallery features a glass-floored ramp that emulates the Acropolis’ slopes and showcases the archaeological discoveries made there. On ascending to the first-floor level, with its initial high ceiling and skylights, one finds displays from the Archaic Acropolis. In a western section are presented sculptures from the Athena Nike temple and the Erechtheion well as architectural members from the Propylaia. The culmination of the Museum’s exhibition plan, the third floor, is devoted exclusively to the sculptures of the Parthenon. The final exhibition unit, reached after returning to the north wing of the first floor, includes works from the 5th cent. BC to the end of antiquity.
