Parthenon Temple on Acropolis Athens Greece: Interesting Facts
Once upon a time… yes, once upon a time, here stood a beautiful temple dedicated to Goddess Athena… at this very spot! People of Athens adored her and worshipped her! What was once a temple, today it is one of the most visited site of Athens – the Parthenon on Acropolis of Athens Greece. Read on to know more Parthenon Facts.
It was a goose bump moment for me, unable to believe I was at a site that dated back to 5 BC, the oldest one among all my travels till now!
Parthenon is the temple and Acropolis is the high hill of Athens.
After our tour of Temple of Zeus we climbed Acropolis for this iconic monument.
History of Parthenon
It came into existence in its grand form in 432BC when Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. So beautiful it was that even today it is considered as world’s greatest cultural monument.
Golden age of Athenian culture flourished under the leadership of Pericles (495-429 B.C.). Historian Thucydides has described Pericles as a brilliant general, orator, patron of the arts and politician—”the first citizen” of democratic Athens.
During his reign he ordered the design and construction of the Parthenon. It was meant to be the temple for Athena—the goddess of wisdom, arts and literature and war. This was when the Older Parthenon or Pre-Parthenon was being constructed on the site of the current Parthenon.
It took 4 decades to complete the construction of Parthenon and finally dedicated to Goddess Athena in 438 BC.
Reconstruction of Parthenon on Acropolis of Athens
Parthenon, the Temple
It was always the center of religious life! Over the years, Parthenon was converted as house of worship for other religions.
In 5th century AD, it was converted into a Christian church and dedicated to Virgin Mary. In 15th century after Ottoman conquest, this was converted into a mosque. Sometime in 17th century part of it was converted into ammunition dump.
During Venetian attack, this was bombarded and the explosion caused massive damage to the magnificent structure. Explosion in 1687 blew out the central portion of the building, destroyed the Parthenon’s roof, many columns on all sides and nearly 300 human lives lost.
After Greece gained control of Athens on 1832 all evidence of the Ottomans on the Acropolis was destroyed.
Parthenon Marbles in British Museum
Many of the surviving sculptures were collected by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin sold to British Museum in London and are displayed there. The Greece government wants these Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles returned and they are very right in their demand.
Original carvings of Parthenon are stored in several museums around the world. A dedicated section in Louvre Paris, France displays the sculptures from Parthenon. There are more in Copenhagen, but majority are in Athens’ Acropolis Museum.
Here are some pics of Parthenon. Massive work is on to get back its past glory and I hope they complete it successfully in a short duration. The whole world is waiting to see the grand splendor of this building!
Parthenon Interesting Facts
- Dimensions – The Parthenon is 45 feet tall, and its base is 228 feet by 101 feet.
- Greek Goddess Athena was Athens’ patron goddess. She was the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and courage.
- Designed by – Phidias, a famous sculptor, and the architects Callicrates and Ictinos.
- Those massive columns are made of marble and the base is made of limestone.
- Construction costs – Ancient-greece.org mentions, “The Parthenon construction cost the Athenian treasury 469 silver talents.
- Each side of the Parthenon shares a story with hand carved statues. The scenes depict battle between gods and giants, between Greeks and centaurs.
- Some carved scenes depict Greek Goddess Athena at birth, Goddess Athena fighting Poseidon for Athens, and Greeks parading for Goddess Athena.
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Amazing architecture that has stood through thick and thin
There is a full-sized replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. It is quite impressive.
Lovely description and pictures !
Great pics! Beautiful looking sky! 🙂
Awesome and aesthetic Grrek architecture:)
Excellent capture on the temple under renovation! First one looks indeed great in glowing light… interesting to note the temple’s transformation into church and mosque.
The light is excellent and great shots of the parthenon.
Sounds like it has gone through many, MANY transformations. 😉
Love the captures of this beautiful monument Indrani. Great work! :))
http://Www.indiangirlamericanworld.blogspot.com
What a lovely post dear Indrani!I really enjoyed your pictures of Parthenon!Did you visit Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon?It's near my area!Have a lovely weekend!
Dimi…
So nicely described…. The Photos are truly inspiring….
Greece is on my Bucket List. So glad you are there and seeing these historical structures and enjoying your trip. I enjoy visiting your site every week so much.
JM, Illinois-U.S.A.
Wow! What a great architectural monument! While I am amazed looking at the creative power of human being, I am also shocked about the destructive nature! If everyone respected every other religion, we would have had 10 times or 100 times more treasures to see worldwide! What a loss!
Indrani Without a doubt Greece, is my fav place. I have been wanting to go together since child. Lets see with this post I might get motivated.Btw do check out my South Africa post 🙂
very nice. I think this is world heritage site.
It would be great if they are able to restore it. It's beautiful .
Beautiful
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Congratulations 🙂
It looks so grand and unchanging.
Beautiful!
Amazing shots Indrani!!
If the ruins are so majestic…. its not hard to imagine the glory of the original structure … Beautiful shots Indrani 🙂
Golden and glorious!
Wow, incredible!!
Amazing post Indrani, I echo Yogi's sentiments.
Amazing photos
Nice pics of the Parthenon. Maybe one of these days Greece and the British Museum can come to terms.
Those columns on the parthenon are so majestic, so impressive.
I hope they finally get around to restoring all these temples. I really would like to see them without scaffoldings.
I have enjoyed your posts about Greece so very much, Indrani!! As I told you, the time my husband and I spent there was one of the most fantastic trips of any we took in Europe. So much history and beauty!! Thanks again for sharing!!
something that has been around through the ages and the conflicts of humanity.