Temple of Apollo Epicurius visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Bassae (Vasses), near Andritsaina 270 61, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece

Hours

Open daily within a short window; summer (approx. Apr–Oct) ~08:00–17:00, winter shorter (~08:30–15:30), no evening slots; timed hourly entry, last entry −30 min. Confirm seasonally and for weather.

Recognition

Greece's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 1986

Built

Second half of the 5th century BC; attributed to Iktinos, architect of the Parthenon

Architecture

Combines Doric, Ionic and the earliest known Corinthian capital; unusual north–south orientation

Getting there

Remote mountain site at ~1,130 m; ~14 km south of Andritsaina; car or tour essential, often paired with Ancient Olympia

Ticket validity

Timed entry — reserved for the date and hourly slot you choose

A temple of thanks in the mountains

The Temple of Apollo Epicurius owes both its name and its lonely mountain setting to an act of gratitude. In the 5th century BC the people of Phigaleia, a small city-state in the rugged uplands of the western Peloponnese, dedicated the temple to Apollo under the epithet Epikourios — 'the Helper' or 'the Ally' — in thanks for the god's aid, traditionally his deliverance of the community from a plague. They chose to raise it not in their town but high on the mountainside at Bassae, a name that means 'the little glens', at around 1,130 metres above sea level, amid some of the wildest scenery in Greece. That an isolated Arcadian community could commission a building of such quality speaks to the wealth and ambition behind the offering.

The temple is attributed by the ancient writer Pausanias to Iktinos, one of the architects of the Parthenon in Athens, which helps explain why so remote a building is so sophisticated in its design. Built in the second half of the 5th century BC, it survived largely because of its very isolation: far from later cities and quarries, it was neither dismantled for its stone nor buried under a growing town, and it stood forgotten for centuries until European travellers rediscovered it in the late 18th century. In 1986 it became the first monument in Greece to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, recognised both for its architecture and for the remarkable state in which the mountains had preserved it.

A temple of three orders

What makes the Temple of Apollo Epicurius so important to the history of architecture is that it brings together all three of the classical Greek orders in a single building. On the outside it is a conventional Doric temple, with a colonnade of sturdy Doric columns supporting the entablature — much of this outer ring still stands, which is why the building reads so clearly as a temple. Step in imagination into the inner chamber, the cella, and the design becomes far more inventive: the interior was lined not with plain walls but with a series of engaged Ionic columns springing from spur walls, creating a rhythm of niches quite unlike the austere Doric exterior.

At the far, southern end of that chamber stood a single free-standing column crowned with what is generally regarded as the earliest known Corinthian capital in the ancient world — the acanthus-leaf form that would go on to dominate later Greek and Roman architecture. The original capital does not survive, but it is known from 19th-century drawings made before it was lost, and its presence here, in a remote Arcadian temple, marks a pivotal moment in the story of the orders. The temple is unusual in other ways too: it is oriented north to south rather than the usual east to west, and a doorway in the east side of the cella may have been designed to let the morning sun fall on the cult statue of Apollo. Together these features make Bassae one of the most studied and admired temples in all of Greek architecture.

The frieze and the British Museum

Running around the top of the inner chamber, above the Ionic columns, was one of the treasures of Greek sculpture: a continuous marble frieze carved in high relief, depicting two of the great mythological battles beloved of the Greeks — the Amazonomachy, Greeks fighting the Amazons, and the Centauromachy, the Lapiths fighting the centaurs. Vigorous, crowded and full of movement, it is a major work of late-5th-century-BC sculpture and a close cousin, in spirit, to the sculptures of the Parthenon. For anyone interested in ancient art, it is one of the reasons the temple matters so much.

Today, however, the frieze is not at Bassae. It was excavated in 1811 and 1812 by a group of European antiquarians and sold, and it has been in the British Museum in London since 1815, where it is displayed in its own room. This is worth knowing before you make the long journey up the mountain: on site you see the temple's architecture — its columns, its plan, its setting — but not its sculptural decoration, which now sits some two thousand miles away. The audio history we send explains what the frieze showed and where each part once ran, so that as you stand in the chamber you can picture the carved battles that once circled above you. Understanding this in advance turns what might feel like an absence into part of the temple's remarkable story.

The temple beneath its shelter

Visitors sometimes arrive at Bassae expecting the classic image of golden columns against an open mountain sky, and it is worth knowing in advance what you will actually find. Because the temple stands so high and so exposed to wind, rain, frost and temperature swings, and because its fine limestone had been weakened by centuries of weathering and by earlier interventions, the Greek authorities erected a large protective shelter — in effect a great tent — over the whole building in the late 20th century. Since then the temple has stood inside this canopy while a painstaking, long-term programme of conservation and study has continued, and visitors experience the columns rising within the shelter, sometimes among scaffolding.

Far from spoiling the visit, the shelter allows a rare and intimate encounter with a great classical building. You walk close to the Doric colonnade and around the temple in a way that is not always possible at busier, more exposed sites, and the diffused light within the tent lends the pale stone a quiet, almost reverent atmosphere. The conservation work itself is part of the story — an ongoing effort to preserve one of Greece's architectural treasures for the future. Photographs from within the shelter will not look like open-air postcards, but the experience of standing among these columns, in silence, high in the Arcadian mountains, is all the more memorable for its strangeness.

Bassae, Phigaleia and Andritsaina

Part of what makes a visit to the Temple of Apollo Epicurius so special is its setting, and the small mountain places around it repay a little exploration. The nearest village of any size is Andritsaina, about 14 kilometres to the north, a traditional stone-built settlement clinging to the mountainside with old houses, a historic library and tavernas where many visitors pause on the way to or from the temple. It makes a natural base or lunch stop for the remote drive, and gives a sense of the mountain communities that have lived in this landscape for centuries.

Below the temple, in the gorge country to the south, lie the scattered ruins of ancient Phigaleia, the city-state that built the temple, with stretches of its ancient walls still visible among the hills — a reminder that Bassae did not stand alone but served a real community down in the valleys. All around spread the peaks and glens of Arcadia, the mountainous heart of the Peloponnese that gave its name to the idea of an unspoiled rural idyll. Many travellers combine Bassae with Ancient Olympia, about an hour and a half away by mountain road, making a two-part journey through some of the finest scenery in Greece. However you plan it, the temple is inseparable from its landscape: reaching it is part of the pilgrimage, and the wide mountain views are part of the reward.

Getting there and visiting

Bassae is one of the more remote major monuments in Greece, and reaching it takes planning. The site lies high in the mountains of Arcadia, roughly 14 kilometres south of Andritsaina and near ancient Phigaleia, and there is very little public transport, so almost all visitors arrive by car or on an organised tour. From Athens it is around a four-hour drive; the temple is most commonly paired with Ancient Olympia, about an hour and a half away, or approached via Megalopoli and Andritsaina. The final stretch is a winding mountain road that climbs steadily to the site, with sweeping views but slow going, so allow generous travel time and keep an eye on the fuel gauge, as services are sparse.

At the site itself, facilities are minimal — this is an isolated mountain temple, not a developed complex, and there is no museum on site. A short walk from the small car park brings you to the temple within its shelter. Because you are at over a thousand metres, the weather can differ sharply from the coast: it can be cool, windy or misty even in summer, and cold or snowy in winter, when mountain roads may be affected, so bring a warm or weatherproof layer and sturdy shoes whatever the season. Entry is now by timed hourly slot within a short daily window with no evening entries, so arrive within the hour shown on your ticket and allow about 45 minutes to an hour at the temple. Booking your slot in advance, and letting us handle the operator's portal in your own language, is what turns a long and beautiful mountain journey into a certain arrival at an open gate.

Read the full guide: How to Get to the Temple of Apollo Epicurius →

Frequently asked questions