The Propylaea on the Acropolis of Athens served as the monumental entrance to the sacred precinct of the goddess Athena. Constructed between the years 437-431 BCE, as part of Pericles’ building program, they were designed by the architect Mnesicles to replace the older propylon. The completion of the original plan was not achieved, either due to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War or, as believed in recent years, because of other political or religious reasons.

It is a complex structure that combines elements from both the Doric and Ionic architectural styles. It consists of a spacious central hall, entered through an ascending ramp, and two wings to its north and south. The central space had two facades with Doric hexastyle prostaseis and was divided by a transverse wall into an eastern and a western section. The wall had five doorways serving as entrances to the sanctuary. The central doorway, of greater width, would facilitate the passage of crowds of people and animals during major festivals such as the procession of the Great Panathenaea. The central aisle was flanked by thin Ionic columns with elaborate decoration, whose capitals are considered among the finest in classical architecture. They bear relief and painted motifs and were probably decorated with additional metal ornaments. Marble decorative slabs with stepped recesses, known as phatnomata (coffers), bearing painted motifs (waves, stars and stylized flowers) on a dark blue background, were placed on the ceiling.

The northern wing, conventionally referred to as the “Pinakotheke” (Gallery), consists of a spacious room and a prostasis with three columns. The name was given based on the description of the traveller Pausanias, who mentioned that it contained paintings. Scholars believe that this room had tables and recliners for the dining and resting of visitors. The southern wing is essentially a stoa with three Doric columns that leads nowhere. It is considered likely that the original plan for this wing of the Propylaea was not realised, as the neighbouring pre-existing temple of Athena Nike did not allow for the expansion of the structure.

In the 1st century CE, a monumental staircase was built in front of the central hall, replacing the ascending ramp. In the early Byzantine period (late 6th century CE), the southern wing was converted into a church, and later the northern wing was used as the bishop’s residence. During the period of Frankish rule (13th–15th centuries), a bastion was built at the Propylaea, and the north wing was converted into a palace for the lords. In the years of the Ottoman occupation, the Ottoman garrison commander was stationed at the Propylaea and the northern part was used as a gunpowder depot. As a result of storing gunpowder in the monument, the first major destruction of the building occurred before the mid-17th century, by an explosion caused either by a shell or by lightning. After the establishment of the Greek state, all the additions made over the centuries were demolished and archaeological excavations and restoration works began.