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The Heart of Ancient Athens

The EHL Site
“The Heart of Ancient Athens: Acropolis and its surrounding Archaeological Sites” is an extensive archaeological area that includes a significant complex of over a hundred monuments, which represent the core of Ancient Athens over a period of more than 3,000 years.
It includes the Acropolis Hill, its southern and northern slopes being the hub of Athenian cult and religion, the Ancient and Roman Agorae, Areopagus, Hadrian’s Library, the western hills of the Pnyx, Muses (Philopappos) and of the Nymphs (Observatory), where everyday life unfolded and, finally, Kerameikos, at the outskirts of the city, which was a burial ground and, moreover, housed the pottery workshops.
European dimension
It is in this very area of The Heart of Ancient Athens that democracy, philosophy, theatre and freedom of expression were born, spiritual elements that still provide the values and principles of the modern European world.
The organization
The Ephorate of the Antiquities of Athens is a Regional Service of the Ministry of Culture which is in charge of all the sites of the Municipality of Athens. Among others the Acropolis and its surrounding archaeological sites are under the Ephorate’s jurisdiction.