AGORA, Temple Of Hephaestus

What you can see before you is the magnificent Temple of Hephaestus. Not much imagination is required here because the temple is almost perfectly conserved: it was turned into a church and survived the destruction that affected almost all the pagan constructions.

Construction of the temple began in 449 BC, just before the Parthenon, with which it has many elements in common. The work was, however, not completed until 416, apparently because the funds for it were used instead for work on the Acropolis.

The name of the architect is uncertain. Some believe it was designed by Ictinus, who was also the architect of the Parthenon, while others attribute it to Callicrates, who designed the Temple of Athena Nike.

It was built as a gift of the blacksmiths who lived in this neighborhood, and thus dedicated to Hephaestus, considered the god of blacksmiths. It is the best-preserved Greek temple that can be seen today....