Interesting Facts About the Acropolis of Athens

The visit to Athens, Greece, would not be complete without a trip to Acropolis. There are many Acropolises in Greece but the Acropolis of Athens is the famous and most visited. The best time to visit Acropolis of Athens is during the months of winter and spring. The term Acropolis is a combination of two words - "Acro" meaning "upper" and "polis" meaning "city".

The hills of Acropolis of Athens are called the "Sacred Rock" of Athens. Acropolis of Athens exhibits the traditions and culture of ancient Greek civilization that existed in the 5th century BC. The Acropolis of Athens is held in high esteem because it is dedicated to Goddess Athena. It is a must visit place for those who are interested in ancient history.

Facts about the Acropolis of Athens

An Acropolis is a large hill with a flat top, like a plateau. The Acropolis of Athens is around eighty feet high and fifty wide.

The construction of Acropolis of Athens began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC, and it was constructed for defense purposes. The Greeks used Acropolis of Athens to study the positions of their enemies at the time of a war or battle.

Acropolis of Athens is also known as Cecropia or Kekrops after the first king of Athens. The ancient Greeks built Parthenon, the temple of Goddess Athena on the Acropolis. Later, during the Classical period, Erechtheion and the Temple of Nike were constructed on the ruins of the Acropolis. Erechtheion was built to conduct religious rituals.

The monuments on the Acropolis of Athens reflect the history of ancient Greece. Some of the popular monuments on the hills of Acropolis of Athens are the Parthenon, Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea.

The historians opine, the first habitation of Acropolis of Athens dates back to Neolithic period. The archeological excavation on the Acropolis of Athens was first conducted between 1835 to 1837. Later, a historian called Panagiotis Kavvadias carried out more excavation in the late 19th century.

Over the years, the monuments of Acropolis of Athens suffered from pollution. In 1975, the government of Greece took over the restoration of Acropolis. However, the restoration work moved at snail's pace. In 2007, many of the relics and historical objects were shifted from Acropolis of Athens to the newly constructed Acropolis museum.

Do you know all the monuments on the Acropolis of Athens survived natural calamities such as fires, floods and earthquake and also wars and invasions for almost 20 centuries?

Though art works on the Acropolis survived natural calamities; however, they could not survive the vandalism of Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to Constantinople. You could rightly say, Lord Elgin looted almost the entire collection of statutes, vases, many parts of monuments and priceless artifacts. Lord Elgin sold almost all the artifacts to the British Museum for 35,000 pounds.

Presently, UNESCO has declared the Acropolis of Athens as a World Heritage site and are trying to retrieve most of the lost pieces.