Plato's Academy, Gymnasium

In the Akademeia district of central Athens, the site of Plato's Academy preserves the memory of one of antiquity's great centres of learning. Here a gymnasium and academy grew into a place of philosophical pursuit, its life stretching from the classical period through Hellenistic, Roman and later times, with traces reaching into the modern era. The name endured long after antiquity, carried forward in the district and in the ancient names remembered nearby. To stand here is to sense the long continuity of a place where inquiry, exercise and conversation once belonged together.