Academy of Athens, Athens

The Academy of Athens is the marble headquarters of Greece’s national academy, and its façade turns learning into sculpture. The building was designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen, with construction beginning in 1859 and finishing in 1885. It was funded by Simon Sinas, so it originally carried the name Sinaia Academy.

Look at the entrance: Socrates and Plato appear as standing figures on a pedestal, while taller columns carry Apollo with his lyre and Athena in armour. Above them, the pediment shows Athena’s birth, with further scenes presenting her as a guardian of the arts. Hansen drew inspiration from the classical monuments of Athens, and the building forms part of the city’s architectural trilogy with the University and National Library.

Yet the academy itself came later: the institution was founded in 1926 and moved into this building that same year, decades after the structure had been handed to the Greek government. The ceremonial hall adds another layer of meaning. Christian Griepenkerl painted eight scenes from Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound between 1878 and 1880, tracing the gift of fire, punishment, release, and welcome among the gods. The building’s story is therefore not simply about scholarship: its stone exterior and painted interior make knowledge visible through myth, philosophy, and art.