Parthenon

In 447 B.C. the construction of the Parthenon began. The Parthenon is a large temple and its artistic appeal emanates from the refinement of many established norms of Greek architecture, and from the quality of its sculptural decoration. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis. I

The Parthenon took the place of an older temple of Athena that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Standard to most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury, and for some time served as the treasury of the Delian League.  The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin in the 6th century AD.  After the Ottoman conquest, it was transformed into a mosque in the early 1460s. In September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures.