Athens
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1. Kerameikos Cemetery
Gazi-KerameikosAt the western edge of the modern Gazi district lies the wide, ancient green expanse of Kerameikos, the main cemetery in ancient Athens until Sulla destroyed the city in 86 BC. The name is associated with the modern word "ceramic": in the 12th century BC the district was populated by potters who used the abundant clay from the languid Iridanos River to make funerary urns and grave decorations. From the 7th century BC onward, Kerameikos was the fashionable cemetery of ancient Athens. During succeeding ages cemeteries were superimposed on the ancient one until the latter was discovered in 1861. From the main entrance, you can still see remains of the Makra Teixi (Long Walls) of Themistocles, which ran to Piraeus, and the largest gate in the ancient world, the Dipylon Gate, where visitors entered Athens. The walls rise to 10 feet, a fraction of their original height (up to 45 feet). Here was also the Sacred Gate, used by pilgrims headed to the mysterious rites in Eleusis and by those who participated in the Panathenaic procession, which followed the Sacred Way. Between the two gates are the foundations of the Pompeion, the starting point of the Panathenaic procession. It is said the courtyard was large enough to fit the ship used in the procession. On the Street of Tombs, which branches off the Sacred Way, plots were reserved for affluent Athenians. A number of the distinctive stelae (funerary monuments) remain, including a replica of the marble relief of Dexilios, a knight who died in the war against Corinth (394 BC); he is shown on horseback preparing to spear a fallen foe. To the left of the site's entrance is the Oberlaender Museum, also known as the Kerameikos Museum, whose displays include sculpture, terra-cotta figures, and some striking red-and-black-figured pottery. The extensive grounds of Kerameikos are marshy in some spots; in spring, frogs exuberantly croak their mating songs near magnificent stands of lilies.
View Tours and ActivitiesErmou 148, Athens, Attica, 10553, Greece210-346–3552Sight Details
Full: €8 site and museum; €30 joint ticket for all Unification of Archaeological Sites Rate Includes: Daily 8–8 -
2. Benaki Museum of Islamic Art
Gazi-KerameikosHoused in a gleaming white neoclassical mansion with a sweeping view of the Kerameikos cemetery (that can be relished over coffee at the rooftop café), this annex of the Benaki Museum provides a welcoming home to its extensive Islamic art collection (which is considered among the most important in the world). More than 8,000 pieces of art hail from regions as widely spread geographically as North Africa, India, Persia, Asia Minor, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and even Sicily and Spain.
Dipilou 12, Athens, Attica, 10553, Greece210-325–1311Sight Details
Rate Includes: Permanent collection €9; temporary exhibitions €7, Closed Mon.–Wed, Thurs.–Sun. 9–5 -
3. Technopolis
Gazi-KerameikosGazi, the neighborhood surrounding this former 19th-century-gasworks-turned-arts-complex, takes its name from the toxic gas fumes that used to spew from the factory's smokestacks. Today Gazi district is synonymous with an intellectual gallery scene and buzzy nightlife, with a special LGBT-friendly zone to boot. The smokestacks are now glowing crimson referential landmarks anchoring a burgeoning stretch that runs from the central neighborhood of Kerameikos to the once-decrepit neighborhood of Rouf. Since the city of Athens bought the disused gasworks in the late 1990s, it was converted, retaining the original brick architecture, into Technopolis, where large art exhibitions and events centered on gastronomy, social history, lifestyle, and culture (like the annual European Jazz Festival) regularly take place, and where the Industrial Gas Museum is housed.
View Tours and ActivitiesPireos 100, Athens, Attica, 11854, Greece213-010--9300Sight Details
Rate Includes: Technopolis free, Gas Museum €1, Closed Mon., Tues.–Sun., 9–9 during exhibitions, Gas Museum Tues.–Sun. 10–6 -
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