Partenone: cosa c’è intorno, come arrivare e quando andare · 2026

Ecclesiastical conversions transformed the pagan sanctuary into a cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Builders reversed the orientation of the interior, adding an eastern apse, moving the main entry west, and enclosing the peristyle columns. Masons defaced exterior relief panels to erase older religious imagery, while pilgrims and imperial rulers travelled across the empire to hold services in the nave.

Subsequent occupations repurposed the monument into a Latin Catholic church, introducing vaulted burial crypts beneath the stone pavement and adding an elevated corner tower with an interior spiral stairway. Renaissance humanists later reidentified the complex through ancient travel manuscripts, establishing the modern archaeological record that defines the citadel today.