The Acropolis was surrounded by walls and had nine gateways, one of which had a very beautiful flight of steps leading up to it. The buildings on the Acropolis were made mostly of white marble, which shone brightly in the sunlight and clear air of Greece. Parts of some of the buildings are still standing today. The Temple of Athena Nike, completed in about 410 BC, has been largely reconstructed. There are also considerable remains of the gateway called the Propylaea and of another temple, the Erechtheum. Six marble statues of female figures (called caryatids) served as pillars on the Erechtheum's Porch of the Maidens.

The most famous building on the Acropolis is the Parthenon. It was dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who was believed to watch over the city. The Parthenon was built during the 5th century BC by order of the great statesman Pericles. The building was supervised by the sculptor Phidias. Earlier he had erected a large bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis. For the interior of the Parthenon, he made an ivory and gold statue of the goddess that stood almost 40 feet (12 meters) tall.

By the 5th century AD the Byzantines had taken the two statues of Athena from the Acropolis and had made the Parthenon a Christian church. It became a mosque after the Turks captured Athens in the 15th century. In 1687 some gunpowder stored there exploded and the middle of the building was destroyed.

In 1801 Lord Elgin, British ambassador to Turkey, took many of the remaining marble sculptures from the Parthenon to England. Known as the Elgin Marbles, these sculptures show scenes of men, horses, and centaurs. In 1816 the sculptures were sold to the British Museum, where they were put on display. The Greek government, however, asked for their return to Greece. The sculptures remained on display while the dispute continued into the 21st century.