Greece - Korina Miller [73]
Bathed in natural light, the 1st-floor Archaic Gallery is a veritable forest of statues, mostly votive offerings to Athena, including stunning examples of 6th-century kore (maiden) statues of young women in draped clothing and elaborate braids, usually carrying a pomegranate, wreath or bird. Most were recovered from a pit on the Acropolis, where the Athenians buried them after the Battle of Salamis.
The 570 BC youth bearing a calf is one of the rare male statues found. There are also bronze figurines and finds from temples predating the Parthenon, which were destroyed by the Persians, including pedimental sculptures from earlier temples, such as Heracles slaying the Lernaian Hydra and a lioness devouring a bull.
The museum’s crowning glory is the top-floor Parthenon Gallery, a glass atrium built in alignment with the temple, and a virtual replica of the cella of the Parthenon, which can be seen from the gallery. It showcases the temple’s sculptures, metopes and 160m frieze, which for the first time in more than 200 years is shown in sequence as one narrative about the Panathenaic procession (boxed text). The procession starts at the southwest corner of the temple, with two groups splitting off and meeting on the east side for the delivery of the peplos to Athena. Interspersed between the golden-hued originals are stark white plaster replicas of the missing pieces – the controversial Parthenon Marbles hacked off by Lord Elgin in 1801 and later sold to the British Museum (more than half the frieze is in Britain). The sight makes a compelling case for their reunification.
Other highlights include five Caryatids, the maiden columns that held up the Erechtheion (the sixth is in the British Museum), and a giant floral akrotirion that once crowned the southern ridge of the Parthenon pediment.
Designed by US-based architect Bernard Tschumi, with Greek architect Michael Photiadis, the €130 million museum cleverly showcases layers of history, floating above the ruins and with the Acropolis visible above, allowing visitors to see the masterpieces in context.
The restaurant has superb views (and is surprisingly good value) and there’s a fine museum shop.
Ancient Agora
The heart of ancient Athens was the Agora (Market; Map; 210 321 0185; Adrianou; adult/concession €4/2, free with Acropolis pass; 8.30am-8pm Apr-Oct, 8am-5.30pm Nov-Mar), the lively, crowded focal point of administrative, commercial, political and social activity. Socrates spent a lot of time here expounding his philosophy, and in AD 49 St Paul spent his days here winning converts to Christianity.
First developed in the 6th century BC, the site was devastated by the Persians in 480 BC, but a new Agora was built in its place almost immediately. It was flourishing by Pericles’ time and continued to do so until AD 267, when it was destroyed by the Herulians, a Gothic tribe from Scandinavia. The Turks built a residential quarter on the site, but this was demolished by archaeologists after Independence and later excavated to classical and, in parts, Neolithic levels. If they’d had their way, the archaeologists would have also knocked down the whole of Plaka.
The main monuments are the Temple of Hephaestus, the Stoa of Attalos and the Church of the Holy Apostles.
There are a number of entrances, but the most convenient is the northern entrance from Adrianou.
STOA OF ATTALOS
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VIRTUAL AGORA
Get a fascinating glimpse of life in the Ancient Agora with an interactive virtual-reality trip at Hellenic Cosmos. The 45-minute show at the high-tech Tholos dome theatre spans various periods of history, from classical to Roman times, giving unique insight into the cultural and political life of ancient Athens.
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The Agora Museum, in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, is a good place to start to make sense of the site. The museum has a model of the Agora as