Cultural Centre Hellenic Cosmos

This complex in the seaside suburb of Kallithea has stunning views from its terrace all the way to the Acropolis on one side and of the coast on the other. Evening concerts and other cultural events take place here. The building, gardens and complex alone are worth a visit, and a free shuttle bus is provided from Syntagma Square. Check the web site for the free (optional) tours in English. The collection of the National Library of Greece is being transferred here, and one wing of the building contains an opera house (this part can only be visited as part of a free tour, if you are not attending an event in the auditorium).

An industrial museum of incomparable architecture. The centre has assisted in the upgrading of a historic Athens district.

If Athens is the birthplace of democracy, then Pnyx is its cradle. Around 507 BCE this rocky hill, overlooking the Akropolis, became the meeting place for the ekklesia, Athens' early democratic assembly. This site thus witnessed addresses by Pericles, Aristides and Alcibiades during the "Golden Age" of Athens, and had a capacity for 6000 to 13,000 hearers. The site was redesigned several times, creating three distinct phases in its history, until the ekklesia moved to the Theatre of Dionysos some time during the first century BCE. During the Roman era Pnyx was instead used as a sanctuary of Zeus.