First Cemetery of Athens

Opened in 1837 as the official cemetery of the new capital, this is where Athens buried its shipowners, politicians, archaeologists and artists, and they commissioned the best sculptors of the age to mark the graves, which turned the hillside into a museum of Greek marble carving. The most famous work is the Sleeping Maiden by Yannoulis Chalepas, carved in 1878 for the grave of a young woman and considered one of the finest pieces of modern Greek sculpture. Around it stand temple-form mausoleums, mourning figures, portrait busts and pediments in Pentelic marble under cypresses, along with the graves of Heinrich Schliemann, in a Doric temple decorated with scenes of his excavations, and of many writers and benefactors.

What you actually see

• The Sleeping Maiden - Chalepas's marble of 1878, the cemetery's masterpiece.
• Schliemann's mausoleum - a Doric temple carved with excavation scenes.
• The mausoleum avenues - nineteenth-century marble tombs under cypresses.
• The sculpture - mourning figures and portraits by leading Greek carvers.

When to go

Morning or late afternoon in any season; the cypress shade makes it bearable even in summer. It is a working cemetery, so funerals take place and visitors should keep quiet and dress appropriately.

Honest expectations

This is a burial ground before it is a monument, and photography of mourners or funerals is out of place. There are no signs or maps at the gate, so finding specific graves takes wandering. Some monuments are weathered or fenced.

Nearby

The Panathenaic Stadium is just north; the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Mets tavernas are close by.