Start any exploration of Byzantine Athens from the Byzantine and Christian Museum. Strolling the grounds of the Villa Ilissia, which houses the collection, alone is worth the visit. The permanent exhibits, beautifully displayed in the museum’s underground extension, are the perfect introduction to Byzantium, tracing its evolution through religious and folk art in icons, embroideries, jewelry, frescoes, and ceramics.
- 22 Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, Athens, 106 75
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Wheelchair Accessible
- +30 213 213 9517
- Website
Start your journey to Byzantium at the Byzantine Museum.
Photo: Georgios Makkas
The 11th century Agia Ekaterini church in Plaka.
Photo: Manos Chatzikonstantis
Large or small, the city’s numerous medieval churches offer fine examples of Byzantine art and architecture, like Agia Ekaterini, visibly built over ancient ruins, and the 11th-century Panagia Kapnikarea that sits smack in the middle of the Ermou shopping strip. Several were initially the main church, or katholikon, of monasteries like those at Daphni and Kesariani on the city’s outskirts.
But churches are not the only vestiges of the glorious Byzantine Empire. Scattered sites around, outside, and even in the centre of Athens are being uncovered, like the early-fifth-century Basilica of Ilissos on Ardittou, and a third-century villa and kiln on the grounds of the stadium where the 2004 Olympics were held.
Agia Ekaterini
Church of Panagia Kapnikarea
The best-preserved, if not only, intact Ottoman residence in Athens is the Benizelos Mansion. Restored as a museum, it is a typical example of a noble’s mansion and, according to tradition, includes a wine and olive press, storerooms, and workshops in the rear of the porticoed courtyard. You can’t escape the religious connection, though: the mansion was once the home of a saint, Agia Filothei, whose life is narrated in a short documentary.
- 96 Adrianou, Plaka, 105 56
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Wheelchair Accessible
- +30 210 324 8861
- Website
Courtesy: Benizelos Mansion
Byzantine dwellings fronting the Roman Agora.
Photo: Thomas Gravanis
You can see parts of even older houses in the Roman Agora, which was quite densely populated in Byzantine and Ottoman times. Look just inside the internal wall along the site’s south for ruins of homes that go back to the tenth century. Traces of Byzantine-era residences can also be seen at the Ancient Agora.
The Roman Agora
- 3 Polignotou, Plaka, 105 55
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Wheelchair Accessible
- +30 210 324 5220
- Website
The Ancient Agora and Stoa of Attalos
- 24 Adrianou, Monastiraki, 105 55
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Wheelchair Accessible
- +30 210 321 0185
- Website