Editing Parthenon (section)

===Christian church===
The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decades of the fifth century<ref name="Stephenson">{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Paul |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |title=New Rome: Empire in the East |date=2022 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674659629 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=177 |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022183745/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to become the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary) or the Church of the [[Theotokos]] ([[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Mother of God]]). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar and [[iconostasis]] were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to an [[apse]] built where the temple's [[pronaos]] was formerly located.<ref name="Freely70">{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=70 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091752/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hurwit293">{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl |title=The secret lives of buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories |date=2009 |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |location=New York, New York |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurwit |first=Jeffrey M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |date=13 January 2000 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-42834-7 |pages=293 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091726/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> A large central portal with surrounding side-doors was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church's [[nave]], and from the rear chamber, the church's [[narthex]].<ref name=Freely70/> The spaces between the columns of the {{Lang|grc-Latn|opisthodomos}} and the [[peristyle]] were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access.<ref name=Freely70/> [[Icon]]s were painted on the walls, and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns.<ref name = "AcropolisRestoration"/> These renovations inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that the images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwab |first=Katherine A |title=The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-82093-6 |editor-last=Neils |editor-first=Jennifer |location=New York |pages=165 |chapter=Celebrations of Victory: The Metopes of the Parthenon}}</ref><ref>Robert Ousterhout (2005) "'Bestride the Very Peak of Heaven': The Parthenon after Antiquity." In Neils (ed). ''The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present.'' pp. 306–307</ref>

The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] after [[Constantinople]], [[Ephesos]], and [[Thessaloniki]].<ref name=Kaldelis>{{cite web |first=Anthony |last=Kaldellis |url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |title=A Heretical (Orthodox) History of the Parthenon |publisher=University of Michigan |date=2007 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824170528/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2009 |access-date=26 August 2008}}</ref> In 1018, the emperor [[Basil II]] went on a pilgrimage to Athens after his final victory over the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon.<ref name=Kaldelis/> In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.<ref name=Kaldelis/>

At the time of the [[Latin occupation]], it became for about 250&nbsp;years a [[Roman Catholic]] church of [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Our Lady]]. During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower or [[bell tower]] and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |first=Jeffrey M. |last=Hurwit |date=19 November 1999 |publisher=CUP Archive |via=Google Books |isbn=9780521417860 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091649/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The rediscovery of the Parthenon as an ancient monument dates back to the period of [[Humanism]]; [[Cyriacus of Ancona]] was the first after antiquity to describe the Parthenon, of which he had read many times in ancient texts. Thanks to him, Western Europe was able to have the first design of the monument, which Ciriaco called "temple of the goddess Athena", unlike previous travellers, who had called it "church of Virgin Mary":<ref>E.W. Bodnar, ''Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens'', Brussels-Berchem, 1960.</ref>

''...mirabile Palladis Divae marmoreum templum, divum quippe opus Phidiae'' ("...the wonderful temple of the goddess Athena, a divine work of Phidias").