!!!Athens

Photography by Stanislav Sedov
and Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

27 May 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Hospitable Greeks helped us organize our trip to Athens. We are very
grateful to Yiannis Yiannakakis, head of Athens Walking Tours travel
agency. In response to our "cry for help" in obtaining photography
permits, he and his colleagues not only offered support in this tricky
business and secured official permits for all requested locations, he
also helped us with accommodations, transportation, and logistics,
absorbing considerable portion of our expenses. Traveling the world, we
have never met such generous hosts before.

Additional information about our hospitable guides is available here.

Being one of the oldest cities in the world Athens was first mentioned
in 15th century BC. Athens is called the "cradle of civilization" — it's
the birthplace of democracy, western philosophy, political science,
literature, theater, and the Olympics.

Athens is the land of Gods. According to ancient Greeks' beliefs, the
city was a battleground where Athena, goddess of wisdom, fought with
Poseidon, lord of seas. Athena emerged victorious and the city was named
after her. However, offended Poseidon had his revenge by making the area
waterless. Of course, this story is only one of many great ancient Greek
myths, but the fact remains that water shortages plague the city to this
very day. Moreover, hot Athens weather, probably, makes Greeks wish for
a different outcome of the legendary battle.

[{Image src='01_Athens.jpg' caption='Temple of Olympian Zeus\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

For centuries Athens has been an important cultural center and a large
powerful city. Many Athens landmarks have survived to this day, and the
most famous of them, without a doubt, is the Acropolis. Actually, the
word "acropolis" simply means "upper city" or "a high place" — such
places were used to build temples for patron deity and could be found in
almost any Greek settlement. But it was the Acropolis of Athens that
became the famous landmark of the world and a symbol of Greece, just
like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Kremlin in Moscow.

[{Image src='01_Athens.jpg' caption='Old Temple of Athena\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

In ancient times (650 — 480 BC) numerous temples and sculptures of Greek
deities were located here on a 300x130 meters rocky spur. Later, during
the Mycenaean period (15-18th century BC) the Acropolis served as a
fortified royal residence. Temples were built during peacetime or
destroyed if the city was at war.

The most outstanding contribution to the appearance of the Acropolis was
made in 447 — 438 BC by Ictinus and Callicrates, architects who built
the Parthenon, a giant temple in honor of the patron deity of these
lands — the virgin goddess Athena Parthenos. Despite the fact that the
Parthenon is in a rather poor condition, its facade with columns is the
most famous landmark of Greece.

[{Image src='03_Athens.jpg' caption='Night view of Acropolis\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='592'}]

The Parthenon's meticulous design, thought out right to the smallest
details, which are completely invisible to the outside observer, creates
an interesting optical illusion. The temple seems perfectly rectilinear,
but in fact its contours don't have any straight lines. For example, the
corner columns are not circular in the cross-section and thicker than
others in the diameter. Otherwise they would seem thinner, but thanks to
this technique all columns visually look the same.

There has always been a struggle for the Acropolis during the centuries
of its existence. When Christianity came to Greece the Parthenon was
converted into a Christian church of Virgin Mary, and the statue of
Athena Parthenos was moved to Constantinople. In the 15th century, after
the conquest of Greece by the Turks, the church was turned into a mosque
with attached minarets, and one of the temples of the Acropolis, the
Erechtheion, served as harem for the Turkish pasha.

In the 17th century the entire central part of the Parthenon was
destroyed by a cannonball shot from a Venetian ship. After that
persistent Venetians broke several sculptures while trying to remove
them. In the beginning of 19th century Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin,
took everything that was possible to take: from friezes to caryatids
(and Greece is still trying to persuade Britain to return the monuments
back to where they belong). In addition to that Turks were constantly
sapping the Acropolis in order to blow it up. They did not succeed, but
during one of the ensuing battles Turkish cannonball heavily damaged the
Erechtheion temple.

[{Image src='04_Athens.jpg' caption='Odeon of Herodes Atticus\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='594'}]

Only at the end of the 19th century the Acropolis finally saw some peace
(with the exception of museum staff strikes). Its ancient appearance was
restored where possible, some of its original bas-reliefs and sculptures
are now in museums of London, Paris and Athens, and those sculptures
that we see outdoor nowadays are copies.

[{Image src='05_Athens.jpg' caption='Athens, Greece\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='566'}]

Of course, it would be a mistake to suggest that the Acropolis and the
Parthenon are the only Athens landmarks. A city with such a long and
legendary history has preserved a lot of individual monuments,
buildings, and entire neighborhoods. Historic areas of Agora and Plaka,
Syntagma and Omonia Square, the Cathedral of Athens, the National Garden
of Athens, and much more! We would like to show you these spectacular
panoramas of ancient Athens from a bird's eye view!

\\ \\
[12 panoramas of Athens|Geography/Europe/Greece/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Athens]

[{SET customtitle='Athens (AP)'}]









[{Metadata Suchbegriff='Athens, Athen ' Kontrolle='Nein'}]