Work on the building began in 449 BC and it was completed in 438 BC, but decorations were still added later, until 432 BC. On the site where the Parthenon was build, there used to be another temple called the Pre-Parthenon. The style of the construction is Doric, characterized by simple and plain columns. It is considered to be the most important surviving building of Classical Greece.

The building was used as a treasury, storing gold and different treasures, but the most important of all was Athena's statue, made out of elephant ivory and gold.

During time, the Parthenon was a temple, a Christian church dedicated to Virgin Mary, and in the 1460s it was turned in to a mosque, with a minaret built in it.

In 1806, some of the surviving sculptures, were removed from the Parthenon and sold to the British Museum in 1816. These sculptures, known as the Parthenon Marbles, are still on display in London. The Greek government is continuously trying to return the sculptures to Greece, but so far it has had no success.