Temple of Hephaestus
The temple on a hill above the Athenian Agora is the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece. It was built for Hephaestus, god of the forge, and Athena, goddess of crafts, amid the city’s workshops, and kept its roof because it became a church in the 7th century.
The Temple of Hephaestus was begun around 449 BC, at roughly the same time as the Parthenon, but was built slowly and was not completed until the Peloponnesian War. It is smaller and more conventional than the Parthenon: six columns on the short sides and thirteen on the long sides, in Pentelic marble, with friezes and sculptures partly in Parian marble. For a long time it was called the Theseion, because the friezes show the deeds of Theseus, but finds of bronze foundries and workshops in the surrounding area showed that it was the god of craftsmen who was worshipped here.
The temple has survived almost intact because it was converted into a church dedicated to St George. A barrel vault was then built over the cella and the entrance was moved, but the columns and the entablature were left in place. In the 19th century it was used as a burial ground for Protestants and as a museum, before becoming an ancient monument. For anyone who wants to understand how a Doric temple was meant to look, with its roof, friezes and proportions intact, this is a better place than the Acropolis.