Overview

One of the city's major sights is the Panathenaic Stadium at the foot of Ardittos Hill. This huge horseshoe-shaped structure hosted the first contemporary Olympic Games back in 1896, when they were revived for the first time since antiquity. The present-day stadium was built on the site of an ancient stadium constructed in 330BC and later transformed by the Romans into an arena. It is made of white marble, hence the stadium's nickname "Kallimarmaro". With its capacity of 70,000 spectators, the stadium is used nowadays as a venue for large-scale events.