The Parthenon was built on the Athenian Acropolis between 447 and 432 BC, as part of the public works led by Pericles, and dedicated to the goddess Athena. Its architects were Iktinos and Callicrates, and the sculptor Phidias oversaw its decoration. The main structure was finished in 438 BC; work on the sculpture continued until 432 BC.
Built of Pentelic marble, it is the defining building of the Doric order, with eight columns across each end and seventeen along each side. Almost nothing in it is truly straight: the platform rises slightly toward the middle, and the columns swell and lean inward. These refinements make the temple look perfectly regular from below.
It later served as a church and then a mosque. In 1687, during a Venetian siege, a mortar round ignited gunpowder stored inside and blew out its center. Restoration has continued since 1975.
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