A visit to Athens is incomplete without also spending time at the Acropolis of Athens, generally known as simply “the Acropolis”. Set on a fairly high plateau on an aged mountain (more like a hill, hence the name which roughly translates as “highest point”), the site is a collection of ancient buildings like temples, theatres and sanctuaries used by the Greeks in their cultural heyday in the mid-400s BC. Here they worshipped and communed, and at the foot of the Acropolis they shopped in the Agora (market place).
The Acropolis of Athens was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Since 1975 it has undergone extensive renovations and restorations in order to preserve its buildings and their enduring heritage. But the Acropolis has suffered invasion, fire, cannonballs, pirates, pollution and general decay, so the revival is long-term, hopefully to be completed in 2020. The cost is beyond calculation at this point, but the value of the Acropolis is priceless.
Greek Statesman, Pericles, is to thank for the majority of the Acropolis. In the 400s BC he undertook to rebuild many of the original structures; these include the Parthenon, Erechtheum, Temple of Athena Nike, Propylaea, and Theatre of Dionysus. Although the Acropolis can be seen from a distance, the impact of being there, among the ancient, magnificent structures, is unparalleled.
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