The Temple of Hephaestus on the hill of Agoraios Kolonos (=Market Hill), known as the ‘Theseion’, is the best preserved example of a Doric order temple in Greece, and one of the most important monuments of the Pericleian Building Programme. Erected shortly after 450 BC, it was dedicated to Hephaestus and Athena Ergane, on the hillock overlooking the Agora square.

The temple was richly adorned with sculptures; it comprised metopes at its east side and the east corners of the north and south sides, an Ionic frieze above the peristasis in the pronaos and pediments which survive in a poor condition. It survived the raid of the Heruli and that of the Goths; it was converted to a Christian church of St George in the 7th cent., and continued to be used a place of Christian worship until 1833. Since then it was used as a museum, until 1950 when excavations were conducted in its interior.

Check out this stunning footage of the Temple of Hephaestus: