Private Half-Day Tour of Acropolis and Historical Sites in Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) is an integral part of the modern Greek intellectual tradition, life, and international presence. It successfully combines an old established name and authority with dynamic development and creative participation in modern letters and science. It is the oldest University in the country, founded by the Royal Decree of 22 April 1837 under the name “Othonian University”, as the first king of modern Greece, Otto of Bavaria, was its founder. Initially, it consisted of four Schools (of Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy, the latter still comprising at that time Mathematics and Applied Sciences) with a total of 52 students. Its first seat was a neo-classical house on the north slope of the Akropolis hill, originally the home of the architect Stamatis Kleanthis (today the Museum of the University’s History is housed there).

The Academy was founded by Plato in ca. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367 BC – 347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lykeion. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. The Academy has been cited by historians as the first higher learning institution in the Western world.

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art.