Tomb of The Unknown Soldier
A historic cenotaph dedicated to the Greek soldiers killed in war, built between 1930 & 1932. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located at the bottom of a high wall surrounding the Parliament Building. On this wall is a relief that depicts a fallen soldier and it is surrounded by quotations from the famous Pericles’ Funeral Oration.
It is currently one od the most important sites in Athens. The main element of the monument is a large bas – relief representing a dying Greek heavily armed soldier, by Kostas Demetriadis. This is based on the dying nude hoplite in the east pediment of the early 5th – century BC temple of Aphaia on the island of Aigina in the Saronic Gulf. To the left and right are further inscriptions that tell of historic battles where Greek soldiers took part, the most recent one in Cyprus in 1974.
The monument was unveiled on 25 March 1932 during the last government of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. It is guarded 24 hours a day by two Evzones, members of the Presidential Guard, an elite specially-chosen unit of the Greek Army.
- Saturday24 hours open
- Sunday24 hours open
- Monday24 hours open
- Tuesday24 hours open
- Wednesday24 hours open
- Thursday24 hours open
- Friday24 hours open
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