The Acropolis

Above your head is the most famous rock in the world. The Acropolis was a fortress and sanctuary from the Bronze Age, but what you see is above all the work of a single generation. In 480 BC the Persians burned the temples on the hill. Three decades later, Pericles launched an unprecedented rebuilding programme, funded with money from the league of allied cities.

1Pericles' great project

The Parthenon was built between 447 and 432 BC, with the architects Ictinus and Callicrates and the sculptor Phidias in charge of its decoration. Then came the Propylaea, the monumental gateway in front of you, designed by Mnesicles, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, with its famous Caryatids.

2A ruin with a past

The Parthenon has been a temple, a church, a mosque and a gunpowder store. On 26 September 1687, during the Venetian siege led by Francesco Morosini, a shell ignited the powder the Ottomans had stored inside and destroyed the central part of the building. Between 1801 and 1805, Lord Elgin's agents removed many of the sculptures, which are now in the British Museum and whose return Greece demands.

Since 1975, a team of restorers has been working on the hill piece by piece.

3What to look for

• The Propylaea, with Doric columns on the outer side.
• The Temple of Athena Nike, small and graceful, on the bastion to the right.
• The Beulé Gate, below, a late Roman entrance discovered in 1852.