Dominating the Athenian skyline, this beautiful, world-renowned monument is dedicated to Goddess Athena, the virgin patron of Athens. Constructed in 438 B.C. by Ictinus, Callicrates and Carpion, under the supervision of Phidias, the Parthenon is the most important surviving monument of the ancient world and stands as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and the Athenian Democracy.
The Temple of Poseidon, at Sounion, the tip of the Attica peninsula (45 miles southeast of Athens), was built in 440 B.C. However, archaeological findings show the area was a site of worship as far as 700 B.C. Carved into the base of one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon is the name of the famous romantic poet Lord Byron. It is possible he made the inscription during his first visit to Greece.
The pass of Thermopylae is the historical site of the battle that took place in 480 B.C. between the Greeks and the Persians. Under the command of King Leonidas of Sparta, the greatly outnumbered Greek army remained in the pass to prevent Xerxes’ vast cavalry and infantry force further invading the land. They held ground for three days before being outflanked via a hidden goat path, which according to legend, was shown to the Persians by a traitor named Ephialtes. However, their feat gave the Greek army enough time to reassemble and successfully combat the Persians in following battles. The epigram on the monuments reads :Oh stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians (Spartans), that we lie here, obedient to their words.
Acropolis Museum
The new Acropolis museum is under the south slope of the Acropolis and contains mostly pediment sculpture, reliefs, and statues found on the sacred rock of Acropolis, which formed most of its decoration. Among these statues, the well-known female figures with the characteristic archaic smile called ‘Korai’ such as the Kore of Naxos, the Kore of Chios, and the Kore of Lyons etc. There are also sphinxes, consecrated reliefs such as that of Athena in Medication and consecrated sculptures such as the Moschoforos (a man who is carrying a calf across his shoulders), the Boy of Kritias etc.
National Archaeological Museum
The National Archaeological museum houses the historical past of the Greek civilisation. It is considered as the most important museum in the whole world.
You can see findings and monuments from all the places of ancient Greece and Greek Civilisations. There are statues, vases, weapons, jewellery from Neolithic times, the Cycladic civilisation, the Minoan civilisation, the Classical and Hellenistic periods and the Roman period. Among the most important are the Golden mask of Agamemnon, the statue of Zeus from Donona, the statue of Poseidon of Artemision, the Marathon boy, the statues of Asclepius-Demeter and Persephone, the statue of Aphrodite etc.
Byzantine Museum
The Byzantine museum of Athens is one of the most important public institutions in Greece, established in 1914 in order to collect, preserve and exhibit the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine cultural heritage in the Hellenic territory. The collection contains more than 30000 artefacts such as icons, sculptures, ceramics, paintings, jewellery, wall paintings, and mosaics.
Numismatic Museum
The Numismatic museum is one of the five most important museums in the world and houses more than 600000 coins, metals and precious stones from the ancient Greek, Byzantine and Roman period.
War Museum
The war museum of Athens houses exhibits of the Greek Army from the prehistoric times to today.
Jewish Museum
The Jewish museum was founded in order to collect and exhibit the material evidence of 2300 years of Jewish life in Greece. The collection contains more than ten thousand artefacts related to the domestic and religious life of the Greek Jews.
The estimated time to visit each museum is about an hour.
The duration of the tour depends on the number of museums that we choose to visit.
Please take a look at the right and at the bottom of the page for additional tour information.
5 Euros for Acropolis Museum
10 Euros for National Archaeological Museum
8 Euros for Byzantine Museum
6 Euros for Numismatic Museum
6 Euros for Jewish Museum
4 Euros for the War Museum
