Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 210 325 1311; Agion Asomaton 22 & Dipylou 12, Keramikos; adult/concession €7/5;
9am-5pm Thu-Sun; Thisio)
This museum showcases one of the world's most significant
collections of Islamic art. Housed in two restored neoclassical mansions near Keramikos,
it exhibits more than 8000 items covering the 12th to 19th centuries, including weavings,
carvings, prayer rugs, tiles and ceramics. On the 3rd floor is a 17th-century reception
room with an inlaid marble floor from a Cairo mansion.
You can see part of the Themistoklean wall in the basement.
Hadrian's Library
RUIN
( 210 324 9350; Areos, Monastiraki; adult/child €2/free, free with Acropolis pass; 8am-3pm,
reduced hr in low season; Monastiraki)
To the north of the Roman Agora is this vast 2nd-
century-AD library, the largest structure erected by Hadrian. It included a cloistered
courtyard bordered by 100 columns and there was a pool in the centre. As well as topics,
the building housed music and lecture rooms and a theatre. Last admission is 30 minutes
before closing.
Church of Agios Eleftherios
BYZANTINE CHURCH
(Little Metropolis; Plateia Mitropoleos, Monastiraki; Monastiraki)
This 12th-century church is
considered one of the city's finest. It is built partly of Pentelic marble and decorated with
an external frieze of symbolic beasts in bas relief. Originally dedicated to the Panagia
Gorgoepikoos (meaning 'Virgin swift to answer prayers'), it was once the city's cathed-
ral, but now stands in the shadows of the much larger new
cathedral
.
Church of Kapnikarea
BYZANTINE CHURCH
(Ermou, Monastiraki; 8am-2pm Tue, Thu & Fri; Monastiraki)
This small 11th-century
structure stands smack in the middle of the Ermou shopping strip. It was saved from the
bulldozers and restored by Athens University. Its dome is supported by four large Roman
columns.
Turkish Baths
BATHHOUSE
( 210 324 4340; Kyrristou 8, Monastiraki; admission €2; 8am-3pm Wed-Mon; Monast-
iraki)
This beautifully refurbished 17th-century hammam is the only surviving public
