Ancient Olympia Municipality

Ancient Olympia is the archaeological sanctuary in Elis on the western Peloponnese of Greece that hosted the original Olympic Games; the festival’s traditional start date is 776 BC. The site contains monumental religious and athletic buildings that made it one of the pan-Hellenic centres of antiquity.

The sanctuary includes the Temple of Zeus, an early classical temple that once held Phidias’s famed statue, and the Temple of Hera, which predates it. The adjacent ancient stadium accommodated athletic competitions; the track’s length and starting blocks are still visible and convey the scale of the contests.

Beyond temples and the stadium, the site preserves altars, treasuries, and administrative buildings organized around the sanctuary. A nearby archaeological museum presents sculptures, votive offerings and architectural fragments from excavations that began in the late 19th century and continued into the 20th century.

Ancient Olympia sits in the Alfeios River valley near the modern town of Olympia in Elis, western Peloponnese, Greece. The ruins and the museum are grouped close to each other and accessible from local roads and the town that developed near the sanctuary.

• Stadium remains: Stone starting blocks and race markings of the ancient stadium remain visible and are the best-preserved indicators of original track layout.
• Excavations: Excavations were led by German archaeologists beginning in the 19th century and established much of the visible ruin sequence seen today.

What to See #

• Temple of Zeus: A monumental Ionic temple built in the mid-5th century BC that once sheltered Phidias's chryselephantine statue of Zeus, long regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
• Temple of Hera: One of the oldest monumental temples on site, with foundations and surviving architecture dating to the 7th and 6th centuries BC and continued use through the classical period.
• Ancient Stadium: An open athletic arena where footraces and other Olympic events were held; the track is rectangular and the racing length corresponds to the ancient stadion distance of roughly 180-200 metres.
• Archaeological Museum of Olympia: Houses finds from the excavations at Olympia, including sculpture fragments, votive offerings and objects from the sanctuary excavated since the late 19th century.