| Parthenon is one of the most famous and noteworthy construction of ancient Greece, and has been appreciated as the finest accomplishment of Greek architecture. The Parthenon is a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of Athens. It was built in the 5th century BC on the acropolis of Athens. Its decorative sculpture is a fantastic example of the amalgamation of the Doric order and the Ionic order in classical Greek architecture. The Parthenon is one of the last few surviving structures of ancient Greece and is considered as a symbol of ancient Greece and its democracy. It is also regarded as one of the greatest cultural monuments in the world. |
| | The Parthenon at Athens is named after the gigantic statue of Athena Parthenos carved in ivory and gold by Phidias, a great sculptor and painter of ancient Greece. This statue is located in the eastern room of the building. The origin and the actual meaning of Parthenon is not known and there are many theories about it but a very popular one is that it is named after the statue of Athena Parthenos and as a reference to the virginal nature of the goddess. Iktinos and Kallikrates are the architects of the Parthenon.
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It is built on a site where an older temple of Athena was situated but was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. The temple is made of Pentelic marble. It is a peripheral structure, with eight columns on each of the narrow sides and seventeen columns on each of the extended sides. The central part of the temple, known as the cella, houses the famed chryselephantine cult statue of Athena. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon is a unique combination of the Doric metopes and triglyphs on the entablature, and the Ionic fresco on the walls of the cella. The relief wall painting contains detailed depictions of the Procession of the Panathenaea, the most formal religious festival of ancient Athens.
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In the 6th century AD the Parthenon was converted into a Byzantine church dedicated to the Virgin and after the Turkish conquest, it was transformed into a mosque. In 1687 AD, one of the Venetian bombs fell on the Parthenon and caused a tremendous explosion that damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures but its repair work has been in progress since 1975 to repair it to an extent. The Parthenon is a monument with a lot of historical and cultural significance. Today along with the other structures on the Acropolis, it is now one of the most visited archaeological sites in Greece.
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Allwondersoftheworld.com describes the Parthenon which still retain its importance as the most famous and characteristic monument of the ancient Greek civilization and still remains its international icon.
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