Parthenon, Treasure of Athens, World Heritage Site

Parthenon🏛️ Temple dedicated to Athena in ancient Greece. Saint Seiya, fight for your goddess! (Haha, clearly influenced by Japanese anime.) Like most Greek temples, this temple also served as a treasury. 1. Built in 447 BC to replace the older Parthenon (destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC). 2. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League (which later evolved into the Athenian Empire). 3. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary (the original deity, Athena, was also a virgin). 4. In the early 1460s, after being conquered by the Ottoman Turks, it was used as a mosque. 5. In 1687, it was used as a gunpowder magazine by the Turkish army and was unfortunately severely damaged in an explosion. 6. By 1800, only half of the Parthenon sculptures survived. After obtaining permission from the Ottoman government, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, began transporting the surviving sculptures to Britain at his own expense from 1801. They have been on display at the British Museum since 1817.