All
cities have "Musts"...
As one of the most popular travel destinations
in the world Athens has so much to offer. 2004.com
presents three of the many "Musts" you
can´t miss when you are in Athens! The other
"Musts" are up to you.
The
Acropolis
The Acropolis of Athens is the most famous monument
from the antiquity of Greece. It is built on a
156 meter high hill, called the Sacred Rock of
Athens. The plateau can only be reached from the
west and was there for an ideal place for a citadel.
The functions of the mountain changed the following
four millenniums and with that the appearance
of the Acropolis as well.
The Acropolis we see today dates from the 5th
century B.C. Left of the buildings from this period
are: The Beule Gate, the Propylaea, the Temple
of Athena Nike (Apteros Nike), the Erchtheion
and the Parthenon.
Take a virtual tour - click
here.
The
National Archaeological Museum
The National Archaeological Museum is one of the
largest and most important museums of ancient
Greek art. Surely, it is the best museum of Greek
artifacts. This museum contains items from the
prehistoric times until the Byzantine period.
Take the virtual tour one - click
here,
or take the virtual tour two - click
here.
Some of the most important items of the exhibition
are the Aryballos, Klepsydra, Bronze head of Nike
and the statue of a Nereid.
The Olympic
Stadium
The stadium at Athens, which was completely restored
to serve for the first modern Olympic games in
1896, dates from 330 BC.
At Constantine Avenue and across the street from
the National Gardens the first Olympic games was
held in 1896.
Lets go back to the antique Greece. Every fourth
year at summer was a great party arranged. It
was a national party in the honour goddess Athena.
Athletic contests were a part of the event and
these competitions was held in natural hollow
between to hills. The spectators sat down on the
slope.
Athens was chosen to arrange the first Olympic
games. A rich patron financed the reconstruction
of the cities old stadium and in the summer of
1896 the first Olympic games was launched as planed.
It was an unbelievable construction with 44 rows
of benches with room for 70 000 people - the old
traditions was reborn.
The Olympic games are back were it once was born.
Athens is chosen as a host of the Olympic Games
2004.
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