Athens

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their... virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure. The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. The temple is archaeoastronomically aligned to the Pleiades. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury.
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The Temple of Hephaestus, also known as the Hephaisteion or earlier as the Theseion, is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple; it remains standing... largely as built. It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. From the 7th century until 1834, it served as the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates. Hephaestus was the patron god of metal working and craftsmanship. There were numerous potters' workshops and metal-working shops in the vicinity of the temple, as befits the temple's honoree. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was no earlier building on the site except for a small sanctuary that was burned when the Persians occupied Athens in 480 BC. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus was attributed to the monument under the assumption it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus, brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BC, but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus.
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The Zappeion is a building in the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings and ceremonies, both... official and private. In 1869, the Greek Parliament allocated 80,000 square metres of public land between the Palace Gardens and the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus, and also passed a law on 30 November 1869, "for the building works of the Olympic Games", as the Zappeion was the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world. The ancient Panathenian stadium was also refurbished as part of the works for the Olympic Games. Following some delay, on 20 January 1874, the cornerstone of the building was laid; this new building would be designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. Finally, on 20 October 1888, the Zappeion opened. Unfortunately for its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas, he did not live long enough to see the Zappeion built, and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas was nominated by Evangelos Zappas to complete the building. The Austrian Parliament Building was also designed by Hansen and followed the same theme in the exterior.
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The Mall Athens is a major shopping mall in Athens, Greece. It was the first of the kind to be constructed in Greece and one of the largest shopping... and leisure centres in Southeastern Europe. The Mall Athens is located close to the Athens Olympic Stadium in the suburb of Maroussi and was opened to the public on November 25, 2005. It has approximately 200 outlets for commercial and entertainment use, spread over four levels, and covers about 58,500 square meters with 90,000 square meters of underground space. Built under the pretext of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, its construction and operation have evolved into one of the biggest Greek scandals of the last decade involving real-estate, construction and commercial corporations, heads of government, ministers, mayors and, last but not least, the media. Its main competitors in the region of Attica are Golden Hall, Avenue, Athens Heart, River West and mainly Athens Metro Mall. The Mall provides access for handicapped persons and has a play area for children, along with a babysitting service and a special children’s care area. It also has a first-aid area. Automated teller machines are available.
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The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, is housed in the Benakis family... mansion in downtown Athens, Greece. The museum houses Greek works of art from the prehistorical to the modern times, an extensive collection of Asian art, hosts periodic exhibitions and maintains a state-of-the-art restoration and conservation workshop. Although the museum initially housed a collection that included Islamic art, Chinese porcelain and exhibits on toys, its 2000 re-opening led to the creation of satellite museums that focused on specific collections, allowing the main museum to focus on Greek culture over the span of the country's history. The museum's primary home is in the Benakis' house opposite the National Garden on Queen Sofias Avenue and owes its existence to the generosity of Antonis Benakis, whose family lived in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1931, the Benakis donated the family's house in Athens and their collection of more than 37,000 Islamic and Byzantine objects. More than 9,000 artefacts were added by the 1970s, which spurred donations from other sources.
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The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece... from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide. It is situated in the Exarcheia area in central Athens between Epirus Street, Bouboulinas Street and Tositsas Street while its entrance is on the Patission Street adjacent to the historical building of the Athens Polytechnic. The first national archaeological museum in Greece was established by prime minister of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias in Aigina in 1829. Since then the archaeological collection has been moved to a number of exhibition places until 1858, when an international architectural competition was announced for the location and the architectural design of the new museum. The current location was proposed and the construction of the museum's building began in 1866 and was completed in 1889 using funds from the Greek Government, the Greek Archaeological Society and the society of Mycenae.
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The Old Acropolis Museum was an archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece on the archeological site of Acropolis. It is built in a niche at the... eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major archaeological museums in Athens. Due to its limited size, the Greek Government decided in the late 1980s to build a new museum. The New Acropolis Museum is now built at the foot of the Acropolis. In June 2007 the old museum closed its doors so that its antiquities could be moved to their new home, which opened on 20 June 2009. The museum was home to many of the Greek world's ancient relics found in and around the Acropolis site since excavations started. It was designed by architect Panages Kalkos and was constructed between 1865 and 1874. It was expanded in the 1950s to a modern design executed by Patroklos Karantinos, a renowned Greek modernist architect. The Acropolis Museum housed stone sculptures and bronze remains from the monuments of the Acropolis and some artifacts that are excavated on the site. The building is located in the south-east corner of the Acropolis.
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The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built... to house every artifact found on the rock and on its feet, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies on the archaeological site of Makrygianni and the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. The museum was founded in 2003, while the Organisation of the Museum was established in 2008. It opened to the public on June 21, 2009. Nearly 4,000 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 square metres.The Organisation for the Construction of the new museum is chaired by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, Dimitrios Pandermalis. The first museum was on the Acropolis; it was completed in 1874 and underwent a moderate expansion in the 1950s. However, successive excavations on the Acropolis uncovered many new artifacts which significantly exceeded its original capacity.
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Arianna Huffington is a Greek-born American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known for her liberal news website The Huffington Post. A... popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s. She is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington. In 2003, she ran as an independent candidate for Governor in the California recall election. In 2009, Huffington was named as number 12 in Forbes' first-ever list of the Most Influential Women In Media. She has also moved up to number 42 in The Guardian's Top 100 in Media List. In 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for US$315 million and made Huffington president and editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which included The Huffington Post and then-existing AOL properties such as Engadget, AOL Music, Patch Media, and StyleList. Huffington was born Arianna Stasinopoúlou in Athens, Greece, the daughter of Konstantinos and Elli Stasinopoulos, and is the sister of Agapi .
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Izabella St. James is a writer, actress and a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. She is best known as the author of a memoir entitled Bunny Tales:... Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion published August 21, 2006. Izabella St. James was born in Kraków in Poland, during a time when Poland was oppressed by Communism. When St. James was ten years old her parents moved to Athens, Greece, where they lived for a year. Her family then moved to British Columbia, Canada. A year later they settled in Ontario, Canada. St. James lived in Kitchener–Waterloo for five years while she attended high school, and graduated with an award for academic excellence. After high school, St. James moved to Montreal, Quebec, to attend McGill University. She started with a double major in Political Science and History, but switched to a Humanistic Studies major, where she studied art history, classical music, literature and Spanish. She then attended Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California.
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Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician. As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met... international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn. She won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and she was also nominated for an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards. A political activist during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, she became a member of the Hellenic Parliament in 1977 and the first female Minister for Culture of Greece in 1981. Mercouri was the person who, in 1983, conceived and proposed the programme of the European Capital of Culture, which has been established by the European Union since 1985. She was a strong advocate for the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon, and are now displayed in the British Museum.
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Arianna Huffington is a Greek-born American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known for her liberal news website The Huffington Post. A... popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s. She is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington. In 2003, she ran as an independent candidate for Governor in the California recall election. In 2009, Huffington was named as number 12 in Forbes' first-ever list of the Most Influential Women In Media. She has also moved up to number 42 in The Guardian's Top 100 in Media List. In 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for US$315 million and made Huffington president and editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which included The Huffington Post and then-existing AOL properties such as Engadget, AOL Music, Patch Media, and StyleList. Huffington was born Arianna Stasinopoúlou in Athens, Greece, the daughter of Konstantinos and Elli Stasinopoulos, and is the sister of Agapi .
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Eleni Menegaki is a Greek film, television and stage actress and talk show presenter. In 2010, Forbes ranked Menegaki as the second most powerful... and influential celebrity in Greece and top-ranked female. Eleni started her career as model.In the early 1990s she and Iasonas Triantafillidis hosted the morning show "Prwino Kokteil". After this show, she and Giorgos Polychroniou hosted "MEGA Banca" In 1994, she accepted the role of the radio producer in the hit series "Pater Imon". In 1995, she replaced Popi Hatzidimitriou in the hosting of the morning show "Proinos Kafes". She hosted that show for 10 years with great success, while media named her "Queen of the morning zone" In 2005, she left ANT1 channel and signed to Alpha Channel. She became the hostess of the morning show "Kafes me tin Eleni". While it suffered from low rating in its first season, soon it became the most successful morning show, especially in the commercial target group 15-44. After years of success, "Kafes me tin Eleni" faced a decline in the ratings for the season 2011-2012 and was placed 3rd. In 2001, Eleni Menegaki married to ANT1 program manager Giannis Latsios.
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Marlain Angelidou sometimes spelt Marlen Angelidou , is a Greek singer and actress. She is best known for being former member of Greece's first ever... manufactered girl band, Hi-5, as well as representing Cyprus in 1999's Eurovision Song Contest with Tha 'Ne Erotas. Life experience, rejection and passion fuel Marlain's new rebranded material, starting with the CD single ‘Being Blonde Today’ which was released in January 2011. It brings a ballsy approach to contemporary rock, driven by an extreme hunger to perform. 'Bedroom Rock' is the new engine for a well seasoned performer to re-introduce herself to existing and win over new fans. Angelidou, her mother, and siblings all have triple nationality . Marlain Angelidou was born in Athens, Greece, to a Cypriot-born father of mainland Greek origin and a mother of half Scottish and half Greek Cypriot descent.
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Dimitri Mitropoulos , was a Greek conductor, pianist, and composer. He received international fame, in the classical music world, both as a major... conductor and composer of the 20th century. Also known as Dimitris Mitropoulos. Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angelikē Mitropoulos. His father owned a leather goods shop at 15, St. Mark Street, in downtown Athens. He was musically precocious, demonstrating his abilities at an early age. From the ages of eleven to fourteen, when Mitropoulos was in secondary school, he would host and preside over informal musical gatherings at his house every Saturday afternoon. His earliest acknowledged composition - a sonata for violin and piano, now lost - dates from this period. He studied music at the Athens Conservatoire as well as in Brussels and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni among his teachers. From 1921 to 1925 he assisted Erich Kleiber at the Berlin State Opera and then took a number of posts in Greece. At a 1930 concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, he played the solo part of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.
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Elena Souliotis was an operatic soprano." Elena Souliotis was born in Athens, Greece of Greek and Russian parents but moved with her family to... Argentina at an early age. She studied with Mercedes Llopart, who also taught Renata Scotto, Anna Moffo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco, Alfredo Kraus, and Francisco Kraus. She made her debut in 1964 as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana in Naples. She made her United States debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 1965-66 season as Elena in Boito's Mefistofele; her colleagues in that performance were Renata Tebaldi, Alfredo Kraus and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Other roles that she went on to sing soon afterwards were Luisa Miller, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and the title role of La Gioconda. A partial list of other operas in which she sang during the first part of her career include Verdi's Aida and La forza del destino, Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Catalani's Loreley, Bellini's La straniera, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, and Susanna in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina.
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