The Panathenaic Stadium has welcomed marathon runners, rock stars and the athletes of the first modern Olympic Games. Built entirely of white marble, it is undergoing its first comprehensive cleaning in more than a century.
Reconstructed for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, it also serves as the venue for the Olympic Flame handover ceremony, including ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The cleaning process requires special care, as the stadium is made from the same gleaming marble used on the Acropolis, making the endeavour particularly delicate and demanding.
“The Kallimarmaro is a unique monument for the global Olympic movement, as this is where the modern Olympic Games were revived in 1896,” said Isidoros Kouvelos, the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. “It was essential to remove everything that has built up over the years. In this way, the Panathenaic Stadium will once again reveal all its splendour.”
The cleaning work is revealing the marks left on the historic monument by the passage of time, the weather and the millions of visitors.
Crews are moving along the stadium’s 47 tiers of seating, using spray equipment that delivers clean water at controlled, low pressure.
At the same time, specialised machines suck up the water produced by the cleaning, so that the whole process is carried out with the greatest possible care and without stressing the marble.
“The aim of the cleaning is not to make everything dazzling white,” said antiquities conservator Dimitris Selemis. “The goal is to remove pollutants and the first layers of organic matter that build up on the surface. Weeds and vegetation in general are a serious problem for monuments, as they grow and spread. In some cases, they even leave residues that stain the marble surface.”
The crews also use steam to remove chewing gum residues that have turned black over time.
According to stadium officials, chewing gum, high heels and soft drink stains are among the main causes of soiling and damaging the marble.
As the work progresses, the stadium’s original sheen is gradually re-emerging. Its brilliant white marble is, after all, what earned the stadium its widely known Greek name Kallimarmaro, meaning “beautiful marble”.