1. The Parthenon
The Parthenon, dedicated by the Athenians to Athena Parthenos, the
patron of their city, is the most magnificent creation of Athenian
democracy at the height of its power. It is also the finest monument
on the Acropolis in terms of both conception and execution. Built
between 447 and 438 BC, as part of the greater Periklean building
project, this so-called Periklean Parthenon (Parthenon III) replaced an
earlier marble temple (Parthenon II), begun after the victory at the
battle of Marathon at approximately 490 BC and destroyed by the
Persians in 480 BC. This temple had replaced the very first Parthenon
(Parthenon I) of c. 570 BC. The Periklean Parthenon was designed by
architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, while the sculptor Pheidias
supervised the entire building program and conceived the temple's
sculptural decoration and chryselephantine statue of Athena.
2. History of Parthenon
The Parthenon remained unchanged until the fifth century AD, when it
was converted into a church dedicated first to Saint Sophia and later to the
Panagia (Virgin Mary). Under Turkish rule it became a mosque. In 1687,
during the siege of the Acropolis by Morozini, the Parthenon was
bombarded and largely destroyed. Further serious damage was caused in
the early nineteenth century by Lord Elgin, who looted much of the
temple's sculptural decoration and sold it to the British Museum.
Conservation and restoration of the Parthenon took place in 1896-1900
and again in 1922-1933. A vast conservation and restoration program of
the monuments of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, is currently
under way since 1975 by the Service of Restoration of the Monuments of
the Acropolis in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and
Classical Antiquities, under the supervision of the Committee for the
Conservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis.
3. Frankish Tower
The Frankish Tower was a medieval tower built on the Acropolis of Athens by the Franks as part of
the palace of the Dukes of Athens. It was demolished by the Greek authorities in 1874.
Construction of the tower is usually ascribed to the Acciaioli family, who ruled the Duchy of
Athens between 1388 and its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1458, since it was them who converted
the Propylaea complex into a palace. The Catalans were able to control the territory of Athens for
nearly eighty years, but in 1388 the Catalans were themselves defeated by the Florentine family of
Acciaiuoli that had already secured acquisitions in the Peloponnese. Upon his death in 1394, Nerio
Acciaiuoli bequeathed the Duchy to the Latin Church of the Virgin (Santa Maria di Atene) and
named Venice the executor of his will. Seizing the moment, the Venetians construed this
testamentary power as justification for seizing the Acropolis in 1397. However, the principal
Venetian enemy Antonio I Acciaiuoli (the illegitimate son of Nerio) ousted the Venetians in 1402,
serving as Duke of the Duchy of Athens initially as a tribute to the Venitians and thereafter to the
Turks during the period from 1402 to 1435. In 1456 the Turks seized the Acropolis and two years
later (in 1458) they converted the Acropolis into a mosque, thereby ending Latin rule over this
territory.
