39 Best Sights in Athens, Greece

This church snuggles up to the grandiose Mitropolis (on the northern edge of Plaka), the ornate Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation, where the relics of the city's patron saint Agia Filothei lie in a silver box. Also called Panagia Gorgoepikoos ("the virgin who answers prayers quickly"), the smaller chapel dates to the 12th century; its most interesting features are its outer walls, covered with reliefs of animals and allegorical symbols dating from the classical to the Byzantine period. Light a candle for a loved one and then look for the ancient frieze with zodiac signs and a calendar of festivals in Attica. Most of the paintings inside were destroyed, but the famous 13th- to 14th-century Virgin, said to perform miracles, remains.

Named in honor of the famous Never on Sunday Greek actress who became a political figure in the 1980s, this center is installed in the former Poulopoulos hat factory built in 1886. Throughout the year the center has a calendar of temporary exhibitions, usually featuring contemporary Greek art. But the permanent collection is interesting, too. Several rooms give a rare glimpse of Athens during the 19th century. You can walk through a reconstructed Athens street with facades of Neoclassical homes that evoke the civilized elegance of the past, along with a pharmacy, printing press, tailor's, kafeneio (coffeehouse), a mayor's home, and hairdressers, all painstakingly fitted out with authentic objects collected by the Greek Literary and Historical Archives. The other permanent exhibition showcases the shadow theater puppets of the traditional Greek shadow theater (Karagiozis), thanks to a vast collection amassed by the Haridimos performing family.

One of Athens's most popular meeting places, the square is always alive with fruit sellers, bunches of youths hanging out, and street dance performances. If you are coming by metro, look for the special glassed-in view revealing the ancient Iridanos riverbed, where the water still flows. The square takes its name from the small Panagia Pantanassa Church, commonly called Monastiraki ("Little Monastery"). It once flourished as an extensive convent, perhaps dating to the 10th century, and once stretched from Athinas to Aiolou. The nuns took in poor people, who earned their keep weaving the thick textiles known as abas. The buildings were destroyed during excavations, and the train (and later metro) line construction that started in 1896. The convent's basic basilica form, now recessed a few steps below street level, was altered through a poor restoration in 1911, when the bell tower was added.

One of Athens's oldest Neoclassical buildings became the new home of the city's Municipal Art Collection in 2010. The former silk factory, designed in 1833 by Danish architect Hans Christian Hansen, now houses almost 3,000 important artworks from leading 19th- and 20th-century mainly Greek artists (most of the works were acquired during the 1930s and ’40s). The museum also hosts archaeological and cultural tours.

After making the rounds of the ancient sites, you might think that Greek history ground to a halt when the Byzantine Empire collapsed. A visit to this gem of a museum, housed in the spectacularly majestic Old Parliament mansion (used by parliamentarians from 1875 to 1932), will fill in the gaps, often vividly, as with Lazaros Koyevina's copy of Eugene Delacroix's Massacre of Chios, to name but one example. Paintings, costumes, and assorted artifacts from small arms to flags and ships' figureheads are arranged in a chronological display tracing Greek history from the mid-16th century and the Battle of Lepanto through World War II and the Battle of Crete. A small gift shop near the main entrance—framed by a very grand Neoclassical portico of columns—has unusual souvenirs, like a deck of cards featuring Greece's revolutionary heroes. Apart from the permanent exhibition, they curate excellent temporary ones, presently a celebration of the 200 years of Greek independence.

Housed in what was once Greece’s first brewery/beer factory owned by (and named after) the Bavarian Fix family, the museum opened in 2020 after decades of homelessness and much controversy. Today the superbly renovated postindustrial building houses three bright, modern floors of photo, painting, and sculpture exhibitions, art installations, and collections, both temporary and permanent. Most of the works on show reflect contemporary sociopolitical thought, by both Greek and international artists.

In the mishmash of buildings that is Central Athens, this group of remarkable white marble buildings, known as the Athenian Trilogy, gleams with classical elegance under azure skies. The three dramatic buildings, which belong to the University of Athens, were designed by the Hansen brothers in the period after independence in the 19th century and are built of Pendelic marble, with tall columns and decorative friezes. In the center is the University, after which the once highly elegant Panepistimiou (panepistimio means university) Street is named, with its giant colorful mural. To the right is the Academy, flanked by two slim columns topped by statues of Athena and Apollo; paid for by the Austrian-Greek Baron Sina, it is a copy of the Parliament in Vienna. Frescoes in the reception hall depict the Myth of Prometheus. At the left end of the complex is a griffin-flanked staircase leading to the National Library.

Begun in the 6th century BC, this gigantic temple was completed in AD 132 by Hadrian, who also commissioned a huge gold-and-ivory statue of Zeus for the inner chamber and another, only slightly smaller, of himself. Only 15 of the original Corinthian columns remain, but standing next to them inspires a sense of awe at their bulk, which is softened by the graceful carving on the acanthus-leaf capitals. The site is floodlit on summer evenings, creating a majestic scene when you turn round the bend from Syngrou Avenue. On the outskirts of the site to the north are remains of Roman houses, the city walls, and a Roman bath. Hadrian's Arch lies just outside the enclosed archaeological site.

It was on this spot in the 6th century BC that the Dionysia festivals took place; a century later, dramas such as Sophocles's Oedipus Rex and Euripides's Medea were performed for the entire population of the city. Visible are foundations of a stage dating from about 330 BC, when it was built for 15,000 spectators as well as the assemblies formerly held on Pnyx. In the middle of the orchestra stood the altar to Dionysus; a fantastic throne in the center was reserved for the priest of Dionysus. On the hillside above the theater stand two columns, vestiges of the little temple erected in the 4th century BC by Thrasyllus the Choragus.