The country of Greece has a total of 18 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Some can be found on the Greek mainland while others exist on the islands and can be accessed by booking ferry tickets via Ferryscanner. Count how many of the below you have seen and visit the rest during your next trip.
1. Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens and its surrounding monuments were built in the 5th century BC and are universal symbols of an ancient civilization. They form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity.
2. Archaeological Site of Aigai (Vergina)
The city of Aigai was the first capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia. It was discovered in the 19th century near Vergina, in northern Greece. The most important remains are the monumental palace, which is full of mosaics and painted stuccoes. There’s also a burial ground with more than 300 tumuli, some of which date all the way back to the 11th century B.C.
3. Archaeological Site of Delphi
Delphi is where the oracle of Apollo spoke. In the 6th century BC, this sacred place was actually a symbol of unity and the religious center of the ancient Greek world.
4. Archaeological Site of Mystras
Mystras, the ‘wonder of the Morea’, was built as an amphitheater around a fortress erected in 1249. Reconquered by the Byzantines, then occupied by the Turks and the Venetians, the city was eventually abandoned in 1832. Now there is only a beautiful landscape and breathtaking medieval ruins.
5. Archaeological Site of Olympia
In the 10th century BC, Olympia became a center for the worship of Zeus. In addition to many temples, there are remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia every four years beginning in 776 BC.
6. Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns
The archaeological sites of Mycenae and Tiryns are the imposing ruins of the two greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15th to the 12th century BC. They played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture and are linked to the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey.
7. Archaeological Site of Philippi
The remains of this walled city lie at the foot of an acropolis in north-eastern Greece, on the ancient route linking Europe and Asia. Founded in 356 BC by the Macedonian King Philip II, the city developed as a ‘small Rome’ with the establishment of the Roman Empire in the decades following the Battle of Philippi, in 42 BCE.
Later this city became a center of the Christian faith following the visit of the Apostle Paul in 49-50 CE. The remains of its basilicas constitute an exceptional testimony to the early establishment of Christianity.
8. Delos
According to Greek mythology, Apollo was born on this tiny island in the Cyclades archipelago. Apollo’s sanctuary attracted pilgrims from all over Greece and so Delos was a prosperous trading port. The archaeological site here on this uninhabited island is exceptionally extensive and rich and conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port.
9. Medieval City of Rhodes
The Order of Saint John of Jerusalem occupied Rhodes from 1309 to 1523 and set about transforming the city into a stronghold. It subsequently came under Turkish and Italian rule. With the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital, and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town of Rhodes is one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period.
In the Lower Town, Gothic architecture coexists with mosques, public baths, and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period.
10. Meteora
In a region of almost inaccessible sandstone peaks, Greek monks settled on these ‘columns of the sky’ from the 11th century onwards. Twenty-four of these monasteries were built, despite incredible difficulties in the 15th century. Their 16th-century frescoes mark a key stage in the development of post-Byzantine painting.
11. Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas, and Nea Moni of Chios
Although geographically distant from each other, these three monasteries (the first is in Attica, near Athens, the second in Phocida near Delphi, and the third on an island in the Aegean Sea, near Asia Minor) belong to the same typological series and share the same aesthetic characteristics.
The churches are built on a cross-in-square plan with a large dome supported by squinches defining an octagonal space. In the 11th and 12th centuries, they were decorated with superb marble works as well as mosaics with a gold background.
12. Mount Athos
An Orthodox spiritual center since 1054, Mount Athos has been autonomous since Byzantine times. The ‘Holy Mountain’, which is forbidden to women and children, is also a recognized artistic site. The layout of the monasteries had an influence as far afield as Russia, and its school of painting influenced the history of Orthodox art.
13. Old Town of Corfu
The Old Town on the island of Corfu is located in a strategic position at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea and has its roots in the 8th century BC. The three forts of the town, designed by renowned Venetian engineers, were used for four centuries to defend the maritime trading interests of the Republic of Venice against the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the forts were repaired and partly rebuilt several times, more recently under British rule in the 19th century.
14. Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
Founded in 315 B.C., the provincial capital and seaport of Thessalonika were one of the first bases for the spread of Christianity. Among its monuments are fine churches, some built on the Greek cross plan and others on the three-nave basilica plan.
Constructed over a long period, from the 4th to the 15th century, they had considerable influence in the Byzantine world. The mosaics of the rotunda, Saint Demetrius and Saint David are among the great masterpieces of early Christian art.
15. Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos
Many civilizations have inhabited the small Aegean island of Samos near Asia Minor, since the 3rd millennium BC. The remains of Pythagoreion, an ancient fortified port with Greek and Roman monuments and a spectacular tunnel-aqueduct, as well as the Heraion, temple of the Samian Hera, can all still be seen.
16. Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus
In a small valley in the Peloponnese is the shrine of Asklepios. Its principal monuments, particularly the temple of Asklepios, the Tholos, and the Theatre – considered one of the purest masterpieces of Greek architecture – all date back to the 4th century.
This vast site, with its temples and hospital buildings devoted to healing gods, provides valuable insight into the healing cults of Greek and Roman times.
17. Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
This famous temple to the god of healing and the sun was built towards the middle of the 5th century BC in the lonely heights of the Arcadian mountains. The temple, which has the oldest Corinthian capital yet found, combines the Archaic style and the serenity of the Doric style with some daring architectural features.
18. The Monastery of Saint-John and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos
The small island of Patmos in the Dodecanese is reputed to be where Saint John the Theologian wrote both his Gospel and the Apocalypse. A monastery dedicated to the disciple was founded there in the late 10th century and it has been a place of pilgrimage and Greek Orthodox learning ever since.