Panathenaic Stadium, Athens

The Panathenaic Stadium is an arena built entirely from marble, a distinction that makes it unique worldwide. Its origins reach back to 328 BC, when Lycurgus of Athens created a stadium here for the Panathenaic Games. The long sweep of seating and the running track preserve the form of an ancient Greek sporting ground, while the material gives the whole structure a luminous, monumental presence.

Herodes Atticus later rebuilt the stadium in Pentelic marble, giving Athens a vast venue with room for 50,000 spectators. Modern architects Ernst Ziller and Anastasios Metaxas shaped its later restoration. The result welcomed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1896 Olympics, and the stadium served again as an Olympic venue in 2004.

Today, its marble tiers carry both ancient athletic memory and the history of the modern Olympic movement. The stadium also marks the finish of the annual Athens Classic Marathon and remains the Greek venue for handing the Olympic flame to its next host nation.