Panathenaic Stadium (Athens)

 olympic venue, interesting place, ancient stadium

The Panathinaic Stadium (also known as the Kallimarmaro) in Athens, Greece is the only major stadium built fully of white marble (from Mount Penteli).

In ancient times it was used to host the athletics portion of the Panathenaic Games in honour of the goddess Athena. During classical times, the stadium had wooden seating. It was remade in marble by the archon Lycurgus in 329 BC and was was enlarged and renovated by Herodes Atticus in 140 AD, to a seated capacity of 50,000. The remnants of the ancient structure were excavated and refurbished, with funds provided by Evangelos Zappas for the revival of the Olympic Games. Evangelos Zappas sponsored Olympic Games that were held here in 1870 and 1875. The stadium was refurbished a second time in 1895 for the 1896 Summer Olympics. with completion funding provided by the Greek Benefactor George Averoff (whose marble statue now stands at the entrance), based on designs by architects Anastasios Metaxas and Ernst Ziller. The stadium was built long before dimensions for athletics venues were standardised and its track and layout following the ancient hairpin-like model. It can seat about 80,000 spectators in 50 rows of marble steps.

It is located in downtown Athens, east of the National Gardens and Zappeion Exhibition Hall, west of the Pankrati residential district and between the twin pine-covered hills of Ardettos and Agra. Up to the 1950s, the Ilissas River (now covered by and flowing underneath Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue) ran in front of the stadium's entrance, and the spring of Pankrates and the Cynosarges public gymnasiums were nearby.

The Fokianos sports facility lies across Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, and the Athens Tennis Club, the Ethnikos Athletics Track, the Federation Swimming Pool, the remnants of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and Hadrian's Gate are located adjacent to it. Until the late 19th Century and the containment of the Ilissos riverbed. the area was reedy and often flooded, and was called the "Vatrahonisi".

In more recent years the stadium has often been used to honour the homecoming of victorious Greek athletes, most notably the Greek National Football Team after its victory in the 2004 European Football Championship and also the opening ceremony of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics, on a concept by composer Vangelis Papathanasiou.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the Panathinaikos stadium hosted the archery competition and the finish of the marathon. The stadium was featured on the Summer Olympic medals introduced in the 2004 Games, and on the medals awarded at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.