You Can See the Parthenon Without Scaffolding for the First Time in Decades

The temporary structures will return next month—but in the meantime, visitors will enjoy rare unobstructed views of the ancient hilltop temple in Athens

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

October 20, 2025

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Every year, millions of tourists visit the Parthenon, the hilltop temple in Athens dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos. But for the past few decades, their view has been partially obstructed by scaffolding, as conservationists continued the ongoing work of restoring and maintaining the western facade.

Now, for the first time in roughly 20 years, the scaffolding has come down, giving visitors an unobstructed look at the historic monument. It’s also the first time in around 200 years the Parthenon has been totally devoid of scaffolding, reports the Associated Press.

“It is like [visitors] are seeing … a completely different monument,” says Lina Mendoni, Greece’s culture minister, to the Greek radio station Skai, as reported by the AP.

Unfortunately, the Parthenon is getting only a brief respite from the temporary structures. The scaffolding is scheduled to return to the temple’s west side for more conservation work starting in November, reports Euronews’ Tokunbo Salako. However, this time around, the framework will be “lighter and aesthetically much closer to the logic of the monument,” Mendoni tells Skai, per the AP.

That project is expected to continue until early next summer. Once that work is complete, the Parthenon will again be free of scaffolding.

The Parthenon was built on a rocky perch above Athens during the fifth century B.C.E. It’s one of the monuments that make up the famed Acropolis of Athens, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987. The Acropolis is also home to the Temple of Athena Nike, built between 426 and 421 B.C.E., and the Erechtheion, constructed toward the end of the fifth century B.C.E.

Overtourism has been a major problem at the historic site, with an estimated 4.5 million individuals visiting in 2024, according to the AP. In 2023, the government attempted to address the issue by implementing a visitor cap, allowing just 20,000 individuals to explore the site each day. Visitors are now required to make a reservation for a timed entry slot, with general admission tickets available for €30 (around $35) during the peak summer months. Private guided tours are also available for groups of up to five people.

Today, the Parthenon is mostly a crumbling, empty rectangle surrounded by marble columns, but the interior likely looked a lot different when it was initially built. Archaeologists have long pondered what the experience of visiting the temple would have been like for ancient Greeks.

Earlier this year, Juan de Lara, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford, created a virtual model to simulate how the temple’s interior might have looked and felt.

“Given that the Acropolis and the Parthenon are among the most visited monuments in the world … it becomes even more relevant to offer [people] a more complete image of the site,” de Lara told IFLScience’s Russell Moul in May. “If visitors can carry a richer, more accurate vision in their minds, the encounter with the monument becomes far more meaningful.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.