Academy of Athens & Plato's Academy Site

The 19th-century Academy building evokes Classical Athens, but the real pilgrimage is to the site of Plato's original Academy (1.5km northwest). Here for 900 years philosophers taught and debated, always over wine. The archaeological park preserves the gymnasium and sacred grove where symposia shaped Western thought.

What to do there

3 things to do

1. 1 Read the Plaque Where Philosophy Started in a Grove History · Free

   Plato founded the Academy in 387 BCE in a sacred grove 1.5km north of the city gates. The site is now a public archaeological park.

   In 387 BCE Plato was 41 years old and had just returned from southern Italy, where he'd been captured by pirates, ransomed, and spent time with Pythagorean philosophers. He bought a property in a grove sacred to the hero Akademos (hence 'Academy') at Akadimias Platonos district, northwest Athens, and started the world's first institution of higher education. For 900 years — until the Emperor Justinian shut it down in 529 CE — this spot was where the West's most important thinking happened. Enter the park (Metro: Kerameikos, then 15 min walk northwest) and walk to the excavated foundations on Monastiriou St. Find the main information panel and read the dates: founded 387 BCE, closed 529 CE. That's 916 years. Compare: Harvard has existed for 390 years.

   Backup: If the park is difficult to find without signage (it can be), the 'Plato's Academy' Google Maps pin is accurate.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Stand at the Neoclassical Building Designed to Rival the Parthenon History · Free

   The 19th-century Academy of Athens took 26 years to build and was designed by the same Danish architect who built Parliament. The exterior is free to view.

   Danish architect Theophil Hansen designed this building in 1859 to rival the Parthenon — it took 26 years to complete due to political delays and funding crises. Standing at 28 Panepistimiou Ave (Metro: Panepistimio — you exit directly onto the building), you're looking at part of the 'Athenian Trilogy': Academy, Library, and University in a row, all modeled on the Ionic order with the same proportions as the Erechtheion on the Acropolis. Stand directly opposite and count the Ionic columns, find Apollo (left) and Athena (right) on their columns, look up at Zeus presiding in the pediment sculpture. Then walk the full block — the scale of 19th-century Athens' self-invention as heir to Classical Greece is visible in these three buildings alone.

   Backup: The buildings are always visible from the street (exterior always accessible, free). The neoclassical detail is best seen in morning or late afternoon light when shadows define the carvings.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Ask What Plato's Symposium Was Really About Wine · Free

   Plato's most famous dialogue set at a dinner party is also possibly the school's greatest piece of marketing — proof that philosophy and wine were inseparable.

   Plato's Symposium (written ~385 BCE) depicts a dinner party held the night after playwright Agathon won a drama competition. Seven men recline and each delivers a speech in praise of Eros, ending with Socrates attributing his knowledge to a woman, Diotima. It reads like a real evening, but scholars now argue it was written partly as advertising for the Academy — demonstrating that intellectual companionship (and wine) at Plato's school would be as stimulating as any aristocratic dinner party. At whichever site you're standing, think about the fact that the most important document in Western philosophical history was framed as a wine party. Then find a cafe or wine bar nearby and continue the tradition — order Greek wine and have a conversation worth remembering.

   Backup: If you haven't read the Symposium, the first 10 pages are available free on Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org). Read the opening scene description before your visit — it takes 5 minutes and transforms both sites.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• The original Academy site is in Akadimia Platonos neighborhood

• The archaeological park is often empty

• The modern Academy building is worth photographing

• Combine with a walk through student neighborhoods