The Acropolis of Athens: a pocket guide

At a glance

Where

Attica, Greece, in the centre of Athens

Period

5th century BC (main buildings 447-406 BC)

Time to allow

2 to 3 hours on the rock and its south slope, plus 2 hours for the Acropolis Museum

Best time

Spring or autumn, first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon. The marble reflects the summer midday heat and there is almost no shade. Tour groups crowd the rock from mid-morning, and low sun gives the warmest light on the stone.

The story

The Acropolis is a flat-topped rock above central Athens. It was fortified as a citadel in the Mycenaean age. Later it became the sanctuary of Athena, the city's patron goddess. The Persians burned its temples in 480 BC. In the following decades, under Pericles, Athens rebuilt it with the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion.

These buildings are the best-known works of classical Greek architecture. Their columns, proportions and sculpture were copied across the Roman world and again from the Renaissance onwards. The Parthenon survived as a church, a mosque and an Ottoman gunpowder store until a Venetian shell blew it apart in 1687. The rock has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, and restoration work continues on its monuments.

Through time

1. 13th century BCMycenaean builders ring the rock with massive stone walls, and a few stretches still survive.
2. 480 BCThe Persian army of Xerxes captures Athens and burns the temples on the Acropolis.
3. 447-432 BCUnder Pericles, Athens builds the Parthenon, with the sculptor Pheidias overseeing its decoration.
4. 437-406 BCThe Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion complete the building programme.
5. 1687During a Venetian siege a shell ignites Ottoman gunpowder stored in the Parthenon and blows out its centre.
6. 1801-1812Agents of Lord Elgin remove much of the Parthenon sculpture and a Caryatid, now in the British Museum.

The museum

Acropolis Museum

Athens

The top floor sets out the Parthenon frieze in its original order, with the surviving originals beside casts of the pieces in London. Earlier galleries hold five of the original Caryatids, the Moschophoros (Calf-Bearer), the Kritios Boy and the Peplos Kore.

Nearby

• Ancient Agora of Athens The civic centre of the classical city, with the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece, the Temple of Hephaistos.
• Kerameikos Athens' main ancient cemetery, with carved grave monuments along the road out of the Dipylon Gate.
• Temple of Olympian Zeus Its few surviving Corinthian columns show the scale of the largest temple in Greece, completed under Hadrian.