Tourist attractions in Attica, Greece

Piraeus

Piraeus is a port city in the Attica Region of Greece. It is the capital of the Piraeus State of Attica Region. It is located on the Gulf of Saronikos south of Athens, Greece. The site has been the port of Athens since ancient times and remains a major shipbuilding and industrial center, as well as an important commercial port along the Mediterranean coast. At the same time, there are many well-known universities, such as the University of Piraeus.

Piraeus is a charming city with countless neoclassical residences, the magnificent St. Nicholas Church, a busy port, various boats shuttling through it and wonderful nightlife. The Piraeus Archaeological Museum displays sculptures from the Bronze Age to the Roman period of Piraeus and Attica. The Hellenic Maritime Museum, established in 1949, displays approximately 2500 objects related to Greek maritime history. In addition, the Piraeus Art Museum, History Museum and Railway Museum are also not to be missed.

ceramic art Museum

Located across the street from Monastiraki Metro Station, it used to be a mosque called Tzistarakis. Its name comes from the name of Viovode (ruler) of Athens in the mid-18th century, who was also the builder of the mosque. The construction of this mosque unleashed a terrible ancient curse. Ancient Greek architectural materials were used during the construction of the mosque. In order to build his mosque, Tzistarakis even blew up the remaining stone pillars on the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

The Athenians were convinced that every stone pillar in the temple was cursed by the gods and sealed on the land of the temple. With the destruction of the stone pillars, a terrible plague broke out in Athens, and he was also criticized by the Athenian people. However, these ancient buildings, monuments and the like were legally the property of the Sultan at that time. Without the permission of the Sultan, it cannot be mined and destroyed at will. Tzistarakis was stripped of his rights after this incident, but there is still a saying that the god Zeus was deeply troubled by the loss of the stone pillars in the temple of Zeus, and his cries prevented people from falling asleep at night. All this curse ended after Tzistarakis was imprisoned. The mosque is now a Pottery Museum, an annex to the Greek Folk Art Museum.

Warri

Vari is a town in the eastern part of Attica, Greece. It is located in the western half of the Great Plains, southeast of Hymettus Mountain, near the Bay of Saron, and is the seat of the Greek Army Academy. Although Wali is not very large, it has complete facilities and provides a good place for tourists to travel. There are high-quality beaches near the town, which have become a favorite for summer tourists. They can not only stroll on the beach, but also sunbathe. The town is famous for its meat-oriented restaurants located near the highway. On weekends, many people drive here to taste specialty meats at the restaurants.

Constitution Square

Syntagma Square is the main square in Athens, the capital of Greece, located in front of the Greek Parliament. It is named after the Greek Constitution ratified by King Otto on September 3, 1843 after the uprising. Syntagma Square runs to Vassileos Georgiou A Street in the north, Othonos Street in the south, Filellinon Street in the west, and Amalia Street in the east. Below the square is the subway station, and there are many outdoor cafes nearby, making it a popular gathering place in the city center. There are two green spaces to the north and south of the square, planted with shaded trees, and a large fountain in the center, where we spend the hot summer with the Athenians.

The most attractive attraction on Syntagma Square is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Greek Parliament. This monument was built in 1928 to commemorate the unknown heroes of Greece who died in the war against Turkish rule. The main body of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier is an embossed of the Unknown Soldier, with an ancient Greek soldier wearing a helmet lying on his back on a stone slab. Two famous sentences are engraved on both sides of the embossed: "This is the tomb of outstanding soldiers from all over the world" and "It is the coffin where unknown soldiers are placed."

The embossed has 11 place names engraved on the lower left and 12 place names engraved on the lower right, all of which are places where Greek troops fought with foreign teams in history. The changing of the presidential guard ceremony is held every hour at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier between the square and Parliament. On Sundays and official holidays, most guards attend the changing of guard ceremonies accompanied by a military band.

There are many places of interest near Syntagma Square, such as the Acropolis, the Bacchus Theater, the Ancient Market of Athens and Hadrian's Library, the Wind Tower of the Roman Market, Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Kerameikos Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Mount Lucavidus.

Monument to the Unsung Heroes This is a famous tourist attraction in Athens, located between the Parliament Building and Syntagma Square. The monument was built in 1928 to commemorate the unknown Greek hero who died in the war to escape Turkish rule. The statue on the tombstone is a soldier, wearing armor and holding a shield, lying on the battlefield. Every time on time, there is also a wonderful guard changing ceremony for soldiers. Soldiers patrol in front of the tomb at unique and beautiful steps. It is free for tourists to visit.

Paiania

Paiania is a town in the Attica region of Greece. It is located 11 kilometers east of Athens, east of Mount Imitos. It was formed in 2011. Consisting of magical caves, spectacular cathedrals and colorful museums, Paiania is a great place to admire the city's natural scenery and learn about history, culture and religion. The Cave of Paianias is the most magical and incredible cave in Attica. It forms the magical Castel landform with different shapes of stalactites and stalagmites. The Vorres Museum is a folk and contemporary art museum that displays more than 4000 years of Greek history and art, with a collection of up to 6000 pieces.

Aigario

Egario is a town in western Athens. Its name comes from Mount Egaleo. It is only 4,000 meters away from the center of Athens. The Cephisus River meanders through the industrial area in the east of the city. Agario was part of Athens in 1934 and gained town status in 1943. It is now a typical industrial town, with a quarter of the area being factories and most of the residents being workers. The town is home to the Piraeus Institute of Technical Education. It was established in 1976 and was formed by the merger of two schools that participated in several European Union international cooperation and knowledge dissemination programs.

National Archaeological Museum of Athens

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the first national archaeological museum in Greece and was established in Aegina in 1829 by Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kapodistrias. Since then, archaeological collections have been displayed in different exhibition venues. Construction of the museum began in its current location in 1866 and was completed in 1889.

The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is located in the Exarhia district in central Athens, between Epirus Street, Bouboulina Street and Tositsas Street, and its entrance is located on Pasion Avenue, adjacent to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. It is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the greatest museums in the world. It also contains the richest ancient Greek cultural relics and many very important cultural relics. These relics come from different archaeological sites in Greece, ranging from prehistoric to late ancient times.

At present, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens has more than 50 rooms such as halls and showrooms, collecting nearly 20,000 cultural relics. The vast majority of cultural relics reflect the contents of Greek mythology, making it a collection of ancient Greek cultural relics. The middle road of the front hall is the Mycenaean cultural relics display area, among which gold masks, utensils and decorations are the most famous. On both sides of the middle road are sculpture display areas with various combat equipment. Further north is the bronze display area. The back hall of the newly built double-decker building after the war was a display area for pottery and pottery bottles. The shape of the pottery and the patterns on the bottles showed the beautiful and meticulous characteristics of Greek art.

Hadrian's arch

The Arch of Hadrian is 59 meters high, 41 meters wide and 7.5 meters thick. It is an Arc de Triomphe in Roman times. It is said that this arch was built to celebrate the visit of Roman Emperor Hadrian around AD 131. The emperor came here to donate a large amount of property to the city for the newly built temple nearby at that time. For such a great honor, it is necessary to show respect in an appropriate way. Although it is unclear who built the gate, those responsible for the design and construction may have been citizens of Athens or other Greek cities.

Today, Hadrian's Arch is still a symbol of the gate to Athens, and there are 15 towering columns directly behind it, which is the site of the famous Temple of Zeus. At that time, the arch was built to divide the urban area into new and old districts. To the east was the Xinshi District expanded by Emperor Hadrian, and to the west was the ancient urban area. Two inscriptions are carved on the frame edge of the arch, each on one side. The side facing the Acropolis reads: "This is Athens, the ancient city of Tesius." The opposite direction faces the new city, with the inscription: "This is Hadrian's city, not Tesius's city." This famous building is supported by Corinthian crowned pilasters.

Due to its age, weathering and air pollution, Hadrian's Arch has also suffered some damage. Many architectural details have partially fallen off and the writing has become more blurred. Now we can no longer see the original form of the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch, and can only recall the glory of the time through the ruins of the walls.

Athens War Museum

The Athens War Museum was established on July 18, 1975 and is the Greek war history and weapons museum. Its main purpose is to showcase weapons, cultural relics and research in fields related to war history, covering the history of war from various eras. The collections in the museum mainly include Greek weapons, in addition to ancient China and ancient Japanese weapons. Its core collection concept is to collect weapons related to all wars in which Greece participated.

The Athens War Museum is spacious and magnificent, and the exhibition hall is decorated with sculptures and combat drawings of ordnance, weapons and helmets. The exhibits are displayed in different periods, from the Mycenaean period to the Second World War, including medieval weapons, Turkish weapons, and armored weapons from the 19th century. Outside the exhibition are tanks and six aircraft, including a restored 1912 Fairmont biplane and an early British Spitfire fighter jet.

The Athens War Museum has established branches across Greece, in Nafplion (1988), Chania (1995), Tripoli (1997) and Thessaloniki (2000). Since the establishment of the Hellenic Air Force Museum, some aircraft have been transported to the War Museum in Athens for external exhibitions.

New Monastery of Dafni, Osiosrokas and Chios

Although the three monasteries are geographically separated by a certain distance (the first is in Attica, near Athens; the second is in Phocis, near Delphi; the third is on an island in the Aegean Sea, near Asia Minor), they belong to the same type and share the same aesthetic characteristics. The church was built in the middle of the square in a cross shape, with a huge dome roof supported by a raised angle arch, forming an octagonal structure. In the 11th and 12th centuries, these churches were decorated with ornate marble or mosaics on their golden backgrounds, representing the "second golden age of Byzantine art."

This world cultural heritage site includes three Byzantine monasteries with similar architectural styles, all including an octagonal church, a promenade that runs through the monastery from the front, and a dome. In addition, the walls of these three monasteries are painted with exquisite paintings and mosaics. These monasteries are now well preserved. They represent the peak of Byzantine culture and architectural art. The preserved murals and mosaics are invaluable treasures for studying Byzantine culture.

the Parthenon

The Parthenon was a temple of the ancient Greek goddess Athena. It was built on the Acropolis in the 5th century BC. It is the most important ancient Greek era building in existence to this day and the culmination of the development of ancient Greek art. It is of extremely important value for the study of ancient Greek history, architecture, sculpture, religion and other aspects. There is a complete 1:1 replica in Nashville, the United States.

The Parthenon is one of the world-famous cultural heritage and is also regarded as a symbol of the democratic system of ancient Greece and Athens. For nearly two centuries, Greece has not stopped restoring and rebuilding the temple. The temple sits west to east and is surrounded by 46 Doric columns, 17 on each side in the long side direction and 8 on each side in the short side direction. The various scale scales of the facade have always been regarded as a model of classical architecture. The proportion of the columns is harmonious., visual correction technology is skillfully used, and the mountain flower carvings are rich and gorgeous. The entire building is solemn yet exquisite, and is called "the highest expression of human culture" by art historians and "the crown of world art." After thousands of years of vicissitudes and great changes in the times, although today's people can only find its past glory through the ruins of the Parthenon Temple, the various architectural, carving and other skills it left behind are valuable assets worth learning by people all over the world.

Greek Popular Musical Instruments Museum

The Greek Popular Musical Instruments Museum is located in Praka, the capital of Athens, Greece. It is located in a 19th century building. It is both a museum for musical instruments and a research center for ethnomusicology, providing excellent conditions for music research. The Greek Popular Musical Instruments Museum has a collection of more than 1200 musical instruments, and more than 600 of them are on display. These musical instruments not only have decorative value, but also have musical value. Many of the musical instruments in the museum will be borrowed by universities for exhibitions, study and research. The museum is divided into three floors and four exhibition areas. The ground floor displays membrane percussion instruments such as ceramic drums, drums, tambourines, etc. In addition, there are wind instruments such as flutes and bagpipes.

The first floor displays reed flute stringed instruments such as long-necked pipa and short-necked pipa, and the second floor displays non-membrane percussion instruments such as mandolin and dulcimer. The museum also uses pictures to show the lives of musicians, while also using physical objects and recordings to show the different characteristics of various instruments. If you are lucky enough, you can also hear live performances of tambourine, Crete lyre, pipa, pottery drum, harp and other musical instruments in the museum, allowing people to feel the beauty of music.

Mistras site

The Mistras site is a city left over from the Middle Ages. It was built on a hill about 621 meters high and sits at the foot of Mount Taiyetos. The site can be clearly divided into two parts: in the upper part are the castle built by the Franks on the top of the mountain, the imperial palace complex, the houses of the feudal royal family, several monasteries and Hagia Sophia. These buildings are surrounded by a wall with two gates; the lower part is surrounded by another wall. The central part of these buildings is the Cathedral of St. Gemeteus, built in the 13th century. In addition, a monastery and the Pantanasa Cathedral built in the 14th century are also located in this part of the building below.

Due to the development of the silk industry, Mistras was once a prosperous commercial center with dense crowds and bustling people. In 1830, King Otto built a new city, Sparta, which was a direct cause of the city of Mistras eventually declined. Among the sites preserved today include some perfect Byzantine buildings and exquisite murals.

Athena Victory Hall

The Temple of Athena Nike is also known as the Winged Victory Temple, Athena Victory Temple. Built in 421 BC, there are four Ionian columns before and after, and there is a winged statue of Athena. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, craftsmanship and war in Greek mythology. She competed with Poseidon, the sea god, to win Athens and became the patron saint of Athens. Located next to the south wing of the front door of the Acropolis, it is a beautiful temple with Ionian columns. It is said that in order to perpetuate victory, the citizens of Athens cut off the wings of the Goddess of Victory. This is the origin of the Winged Goddess of Victory Temple.

The Temple of Victory is 18 feet long and 12 feet wide, and is entirely built of Pontellic marble produced around Athens. The inner nave is square, and the Ionian foyer has four columns at each end. The exterior of the building is surrounded by an 18-foot-wide frieze decorated with high-raised embossed. The embossed on the south side of the temple is engraved with a statue of the Goddess of Victory holding a shield, with various statues standing next to it. This temple went through ups and downs and looting by war. In the 17th century, the British removed many embossed, and now only a few 11-meter-high columns remain.