Roman agora, Plaka, Market, Academia & Stadium of Αθήνα/Athens

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• published: 06 Dec 2009
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Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα) is the picturesque old historical neighbourhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. During the early modern age and until the early 20th century Plaka was noted at the time as the "Albanian quarter" of Athens[1][2][3][4][5] It is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists around the year, and is under strict zoning and conservation regulations, being the only neighborhood in Athens where all utilities (water, power, cable television, telephone, internet, and sewage) lie underground in fully accessible, custom-made tunnelling. Motor vehicles are not allowed in Plaka, and most streets are too narrow, thus not being able to accommodate them anyway. Museums in Plaka include the new Jewish Museum of Greece, the Greek Folk Art Museum and the Frissiras Museum. Excavations have proven that Adrianou Street is the oldest street in Athens still in continuous use with the exact same layout since antiquity. Of special interest is the neighborhood of Anafiotika, the part of Plaka that is built against the northern slope of the Acropolis; built by immigrants from the Aegean island of Anafi in the early 19th century, it features traditional Cycladic architecture. The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium (Greek: Παναθηναϊκό στάδιο), also known as the Kallimarmaro (Καλλιμάρμαρο, i.e. the "beautifully marbled") in Athens is the only major stadium in the world built entirely 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 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 Evangelis Zappas for the revival of the Olympic Games.[1] Evangelis Zappas sponsored the "Zappas Olympics", that were held there in 1870 and 1875.[1] The stadium was refurbished a second time in 1895 for the 1896 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 standardized and its track and layout follow the ancient hairpin-like model. It can seat about 80,000 spectators on 50 rows of marble steps. It is located in downtown Athens, east of the National Gardens and the 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 Ilissos River (now covered by, and flowing underneath, Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue) ran in front of the stadium's entrance, and the spring of Kallirrhoe, the sanctuary of Pankrates (a local hero) and the Cynosarges public gymnasium were nearby. The Fokianos sports facility lies across Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, and adjacent to it are located the Athens tennis club, the Ethnikos athletics track, the Federation swimming pool, the remnants of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and Hadrian's Gate. Until the late 19th century and the containment of the Ilissos riverbed, the area was reedy and often flooded, and was called the "Vatrahonisi" (Frog Island). In more recent years this stadium has been often used to honour the homecoming of victorious Greek athletes, most notably the Greek national football team after its victory at the 2004 European Football Championship and also the opening ceremony of the World Athletics Championships in 1997, on a concept by composer Vangelis Papathanasiou. In the 2004 Olympic Games, the Panathinaiko Stadium hosted the archery competition, and the finish of the Marathon. On rare occasions, the stadium has also been used as a venue for select musical artist performances. On July 1, 2009, recording artist Sakis Rouvas made history with a sold-out benefit concert for the environment (coinciding with the first day of the Greek public ban on smoking) with an audience of 50,000the largest audience ever at the stadium for a musical event and amongs the largest concerts of all time by a Greek artist. (wikipedia) VALPARD FILMS http://valpardfilms.awardspace.com