See Also
- Top-Rated Lodgings in Athens
- Places to Stay in Athens
- Top Dining Spots in Athens
- Prime Activities to Enjoy in Athens
- Complete Athens Travel Guide
Tours and Tickets:
• The Athens Pass Combo Ticket ( Athens Pass Combo Ticket (7 archaeological sites + Acropolis Museum. No tour.) • Athens Mythology Highlights Adventure (Guided trip of Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and Temple of Olympian Zeus)
Temple of Olympian Zeus Hours and Information
- Operating hours: Open daily. Summer (April to October) 8am – 8pm; last entry to the site at 7:40pm. Winter (November to March) 8am – 5pm; last entry to the site at 4:40pm. Open daily. Summer 8am – 8pm; last entry to the site at 7:40pm. Hours decrease gradually in the early fall and winter (check website for details). Closed 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 25 & 26 December.
- Website: odysseus.culture.gr
- Location: Athens, Greece
- Telephone: +30 210 922 6330
- Entrance Fee: High season (April to October) entrance cost: 8€. Low season (November to March) entrance cost: 4€. Reduced admission 4€. For 30€, you can purchase a combined ticket for this location and 6 additional sites: Acropolis, Ancient Agora of Athens, Hadrian’s Library, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Kerameikos and Aristotle’s Lyceum. The combined ticket is valid for 5 days and offered year-round. You can purchase on location or in advance online.
- No Cost Entry: March 6th (honoring Melina Mercouri), April 18th (International Monuments Day), May 18th (International Museums Day), the last weekend in September each year (European Heritage Days), October 28th, the first Sunday of each month from November 1st through March 31st.
- Parking: Street parking, nearby pay lots.
- Nearest Metro: Acropoli
Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens
- Situated in the city center just south of the National Garden, about a 350-meter walk from the Acropolis museum and a 750-meter walk from Syntagma Square.
- The towering temple dedicated to Zeus, who was foremost among the Olympian Gods, was the largest feature and namesake of the Olympieion archaeological site.
- Construction began in the 6th century BC by Peisistratos, the ruler of Athens between 561 and 527 BC. Work was started but lack of funding or exile ended progress. Multiple leaders tried finishing it, yet the Roman emperor Hadrian was able to complete the temple in 131 AD, approximately 700 years later. He also built a colossal statue of gold and ivory depicting Zeus, the largest cult statue of the ancient world.
- The structure was the largest ever to be built in Greece, and featured 104 enormous columns. Of those, only 16 remain standing. The columns measure 17 meters high with a base diameter of 1.7 meters. There is one fallen column among them, having been blown over by gale force winds in 1852. – Nothing remains of the inner chamber of the temple or of the colossal statue of Zeus that it once housed.
- Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple was dismantled for building materials to supply other construction projects in the city.
- In April 1759, during the Ottoman Empire, the governor of Athens named Mustapha Agha Tzistarakis destroyed one column in order to reuse the marble to construct plaster for building the Tzistarakis Mosque. This mosque is situated in Monastiraki Square.
- The Olympieion archaeological site also includes ruins of Roman baths, Classical housing, a 5th century basilica, and a portion of the city’s fortification wall. Hadrian’s Arch is situated just outside the site’s boundary.
