Acropolis of Athens Timeline

A large tower known as the Frankopyrgos (Frankish Tower) was added to the Acropolis during the medieval period; it stood for centuries before being demolished in the 19th century.

During the 1687 siege by the Venetians in the Morean War, gunpowder stored in the Parthenon by the Turkish rulers was hit by Venetian bombardment and exploded, seriously damaging the Parthenon and other buildings.

Within the later tradition of Western civilization and Classical revival, the Acropolis has often been invoked from at least the mid-18th century onward as a critical symbol of the Greek legacy and of the glories of Classical Greece.

The Acropolis was besieged thrice during the Greek War of Independence. The first two sieges came from the Greeks in 1821–1822 as they fought to expel the Ottoman garrison.

A new bulwark named after Odysseas Androutsos was built by the Greeks between 1822 and 1825 to protect the recently rediscovered Klepsydra spring, which became the sole fresh water supply of the fortress.

The third siege of the Acropolis during the Greek War of Independence came from the Ottomans in 1826–1827, as they sought to retake the fortress from Greek revolutionary forces.

At the beginning of the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941, German soldiers raised the Nazi German War Flag over the Acropolis, symbolizing their occupation of Athens.

In 1944, Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou arrived on the Acropolis to celebrate the liberation of Greece from Nazi occupation.

Image source: Georgios Papandreou

German Neoclassicist architect Leo von Klenze was responsible for the restoration of the Acropolis in the 19th century, according to German historian Wolf Seidl, as described in his book Bavarians in Greece.

Image source: Leo von Klenze

The mosque that had been established inside the Parthenon during the Ottoman era was demolished in 1843 as part of efforts to clear later structures from the ancient monuments.

Some antiquities from the Acropolis were exhibited in the old Acropolis Museum, which was built on the site in the second half of the 19th century.

The medieval Frankish Tower (Frankopyrgos), which had dominated the Propylaea area for centuries, was demolished in 1875 to restore the classical appearance of the Acropolis.

Systematic excavation on the Acropolis uncovered the so-called 'Persian debris,' the richest archaeological deposit excavated on the Acropolis by 1890, containing treasures buried after the Persian sack.

The building destroyed by the invading Herulians in antiquity was reconstructed during the 1950s, restoring part of the Acropolis complex after many centuries of ruin.

The Acropolis Restoration Project began in 1975 to reverse the decay of centuries of attrition, pollution, destruction from military actions, and misguided past restorations of the ancient monuments.

Image source: Acropolis of Athens

As part of ongoing restoration work, the Parthenon colonnades, largely destroyed by Venetian bombardment during the 17th century, were restored, with many wrongly assembled columns now properly placed.

Image source: Parthenon

The painstaking restoration of the Temple of Athena Nike, which had been dismantled and rebuilt piece by piece, was completed in 2010, returning the small marble temple to its historic glory.

Image source: Temple of Athena Nike

In 2021, the addition of new reinforced concrete paths to the Acropolis site to improve accessibility caused controversy among archaeologists concerned about the impact on the ancient monument.