Reconstructing ancient Athens

As we are working on the fourth TimeSpot in Athens, we want to share more about our full plans for Athens. It is one of the most important historic cities in the world, yet so much of it has become difficult to imagine. Temples stand as fragments, entire neighbourhoods have disappeared, and many of the stories that once filled these places are invisible to the modern visitor. That is exactly what we want to change and that is why it is the starting point of TimeLens.

Image: A part of the TimeSpot 'Acropolis in Classical times'.

When our current project is finished, TimeLens will include 16 TimeSpots in Athens that bring the most important sites and moments of ancient Athens back to life around you.

The full Athens line up will include:

• Hadrian’s Library

• Theatre of Dionysos

• Herodeion

• Propylaea

• Acropolis (Classical, Roman and Ottoman times)

• Tetraconch

• Olympieion

• Roman Forum

• Ancient Agora

• Pnyx

• Choragic Monument of Lysicrates

• City Gates

Each location will include its own audio guide, allowing visitors not only to see these places restored, but also to understand the people, rituals, politics, performances, and daily life that once filled them.

Some of these places will show entirely different eras of Athens. The Acropolis itself will be presented in Classical, Roman, and Ottoman times, revealing how dramatically the city changed across centuries. Other locations, like the Agora, will show how the heart of Athenian public life evolved from the Classical democracy to the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.

Three TimeSpots are already complete. We have now fully finished the Propylaea, Hadrian’s Library and the Acropolis in Classical times. And development on the next locations is already well underway.

Image: A part of the TimeSpot 'Hadrian's Library'.

For all of these TimeSpots the research and 3D models of Dimitris Tsalkanis (done together with Professor Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos) form an important foundation. We are incredibly grateful for their work, research, and support.

Together, we are trying to create something far beyond a traditional guide or reconstruction. The goal is to make Athens feel alive again. Not as isolated ruins, but as a living city filled with movement, sound, colour, politics, religion, theatre, markets, ceremonies, and everyday people.

Want to support this and future TimeLens projects? You can easily do so on Patreon.

Image: A part of the TimeSpot 'Propylaea'.