10 interesting facts about the Parthenon

parthenon monument facts

 1. Sculptor Phidias is the person under whose general supervision the Parthenon was built. He was also incharge of the sculptural decoration.
2. The construction work on the Parthenon began in 447 BC and substantially completed by 432. It was mainly the decorations that continued until 431.
3. Iktinos and Kallikrates were the architects of the monument.
4. The monument boasts of 46 outer pillars and 19 inner pillars in total.
5. Measured at the top step, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are 69.5 m by 30.9 m (228.0 x 101.4 ft).
6. In 6th century AD, Parthenon was transformed into a Christian church, dedicated to the Virgin.
7. There was only one piece of sculpture in the Parthenon that is known to be from the hand of Pheidias. It was the statue of Athena, which was housed in the naos.
8. The Venetian bombardment of the Parthenon that took place on 26th September 1687 severely damaged the monument as well as its sculptures.
9. The Ottoman conquest saw the church being further converted into a mosque, in the early 1460s. Even a minaret was added to it.
10. After Greece gained independence and acquired control over Athens, in 1832, the visible section of the minaret built by Ottomans was demolished from the Parthenon.