Pericles wanted to rebuild the city and make it an artistic and cultural as well as political hellenic centre. During the thirty years of Pericles' rule, many buildings were erected like the Parthenon, the Propylaea and many others.

The general artistic supervision of the Acropolis buildings was assigned to Pheidias who distinguished himself by producing decorations that were unique in magnificence.

In 439BC the Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena and it took 15 years to complete. This is a remarkably short time when one considers the principles of architecture employed, some of which are still unknown to us.

In 450AD the Parthenon was turned into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but in 1204, when the Franks occupied Athens they turned the Parthenon into a Catholic church and when the Turks arrived in 1458 the Parthenon became a mosque with Turkish houses built around it.

In 1674, the French ambassador, the Marquis de Nointel, paid a visit to Athens accompanied by Jacques Carrey who made drawings of the Parthenon. Carrey's drawings show that at that time the Parthenon still remained intact.

Thirteen years later, in 1687, the Venetian general Francesco Morosini laid siege to the Acropolis. He bombarded the Acropolis, even though he knew that the Turks were storing gunpowder there. The result was an explosion which destroyed much of the Parthenon.