The Panathinaiko (Panathenaic, Kallimarmaron) Stadium, Athens, Greece
October 4th, 2006 / / Links: Google Earth, Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, Virtual Earth / Nearest placesThe Panathinaiko (Panathenaic) Stadium (also known as the Kallimarmaron, i.e. the "beautifully marbled") in Athens is the only major stadium in the world built fully of white marble (from Mount Penteli). It should not be confused with the Panathinaikos football pitch (officially called the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium) at Alexandras Avenue.
In ancient times it was used to host the athletic 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 enlarged and renovated by Herod Atticus in 140 AD, to a capacity of 50,000. The remnants of the ancient structure were excavated in 1870. It was fully rebuilt in 1895 in order to host the first modern Olympic Games, with funding provided by the magnate George Averoff (whose marble statue now stands at the entrance) and on designs by architects Anastasios Metaxas and Ernst Ziller. The stadium was built long before dimensions for athletics venues were standardized and its track and layout follow the ancient hairpin-like model. It can seat about 80,000 spectators.



















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