Olympia in Greece
Wednesday, 19 March 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union Category/Kategorie: General , Museums, Exhibitions , Sport , UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time: 3 minutes
British Museum – Olympia Model © Joanbanjo/cc-by-sa-3.0
🔊 Listen to this Post
Olympia, a sanctuary of ancient Greece in
Elis , is known for having been the site of the
Olympic Games in classical times, the most famous games in history. The Olympic Games were held
every four years throughout
Classical Antiquity , from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. The first Olympic Games were in honor of
Zeus . Olympia is an UNESCO world heritage site since 1988.
The sanctuary, known as the Altis , consists of an unordered arrangement of various buildings. Enclosed within the temenos (sacred enclosure) are the Temple of Hera (or Heraion/Heraeum) and Temple of Zeus , the Pelopion and the area of the altar, where the sacrifices were made. The hippodrome and later stadium were also to the east. To the north of the sanctuary can be found the Prytaneion and the Philippeion , as well as the array of treasuries representing the various city states. The Metroon lies to the south of these treasuries, with the Echo Stoa to the East. To the south of the sanctuary is the South Stoa and the Bouleuterion , whereas the West side houses the Palaestra , the workshop of Pheidias , the Gymnasion and the Leonidaion .
British Museum - Olympia Model © Joanbanjo/cc-by-sa-3.0
Over time the site was buried under alluvial deposits, up to 8 meters deep, long thought to be the result of river flooding. Modern research hypothesizes instead—based on the presence of mollusc and gastropod shells and foraminifera— that the site was buried by ocean waters resulting from repeated tsunamis. The exact site was re-discovered in 1766 by the English antiquarian
Richard Chandler . The first excavation of the sanctuary at Olympia was not carried out until 1829, by the French “
Expedition Scientifique de Moree “.
The
Olympic flame of the modern-day Olympic Games is lit by reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of
Hera and then transported by a torch to the place where the games are held. When the
modern Olympics came to
Athens in 2004, the men’s and women’s shot put competition was held at the restored
Olympia stadium .
Read more on
Wikipedia Ancient Olympic Games and
Wikipedia Olympia (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
Recommended posts:
[caption id="attachment_169114" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © flickr.com - debs-eye/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Opéra de Nice is the principal opera venue in Nice on the French Riviera. It offers three types of performances: operas, ballets and classical concerts ; and houses the Ballet Nice Méditerranée and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. The “petit théâtre en bois” (wooden theatre) was first created in 1776 by Marquess Alli-Maccarani. Sold in 1787 to a group of gentry, it reopened in 1790 under...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_166053" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Luxor - Winter Palace Hotel © Rowan[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of A...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_152867" align="aligncenter" width="590"] 'Water Houses' in Sonwik Marina in front of the Navy School Mürwik © VollwertBIT[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region Southern Schleswig. After Kiel and Lübeck it is the third largest town in Schleswig-Holstein. The nearest larger towns are Kiel (86 km south) and Odense in Denmark (92 km northeast). Flensburg's city centre lies about 7 km from the Dan...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_159847" align="aligncenter" width="378"] Jönköping Collage © jonkopingsambassaden.se - Citronlemonad[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Jönköping is a city in southern Sweden with 62,000 inhabitants. Jönköping is situated by the southern end of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern. The original town Jönköping has grown together with twin city Huskvarna (population 23,000) and suburb Norrahammar-Hovslätt (population 9,000), forming a contiguous urban area, with 94,000 inhabitants in 2013.
The ci...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_232416" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Scicli is a town and municipality in the Province of Ragusa in the south east of Sicily, southern Italy. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Ragusa, and 188 kilometres (117 mi) from Palermo, and has a population (2017) of 27,051. Alongside seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it has been listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The municipality borders with Modica and Ragusa. The economy of Scicli is mostly ag...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_153960" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Damp Marina © Xocolatl[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Here the Baltic Sea is just one pier away: On the tip of Schwansen (located 54° 35‘ North/10° 016‘ east) the Damp marina welcomes you with its 14 footbridges and 365 moorages of which 100 are reserved for guests. Irrespective of where you dock your boat, a hose connection for drinking water and a 220 V socket are available directly in front of the boat. In addition the depth of the water is perfect for docking...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_168418" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Al Jawf © NASA[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kufra is a basin and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the center and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. It is located in a particularly isolated area, not only because it is in the middle of the Sahara Desert but also because it is surrounded on three sides by depressio...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_231600" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Taco Bell © flickr.com - Phillip Pessar/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Hialeah is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people at the 2018 census. It is located west-northwest of Miami, and is one of a few places in the county—others being Homest...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_236332" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Bahnfrend/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Alice Springs (Eastern Arrernte: Mparntwe), is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory, Australia. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (née Alice Gillam Bell), wife of the telegraph pioneer Sir Charles Todd. Known colloquially as 'The Alice' or simply 'Alice', the town is situated roughly in Australia's geographic centre. It is nearly equidistant fr...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_232072" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Dylan Avery/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]North Pole is a small city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Incorporated in 1953, it is part of the Fairbanks metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,243, up from 2,117 in 2010. Despite its name, the city is about 1,700 miles (2,700 km) south of Earth's geographic North Pole and 125 miles (200 km) south of the Arctic Circle. The city is a su...
[ read more ]