When finally in 449 BC peace was reached with the Persians Pericles, the leader of the Greek democracy, decided to rebuild the Acropolis into a religious centre which should become the crown jewel of Athens, and which should show the uncredible wealth of the Greek civilisation. In the capital of the Attic Alliance a lot of public buildings and magnificent monuments were erected, and of course the Acropolis had to become the heart of this all, the heart of Athens.

Before all this only one major thing had changed on the Acropolis. In the sixties a huge bronze statue of the Goddess Pallas Athena was erected. People wrote that sailors who arrived from Sounion saw this statue from miles away. The colossal statue has been lost during the centuries, but there are still some copies. How huge the statue was in reality is not exactly known, but according to ancient writings it was 13 metres tall.

Pericles used for his monumental recreation of Athens the genius sculputurer and architect Phidias, who lived from about 500 BC till 430 BC This artist probably led all constructions, and the construction of the details of some buildings. In the years between 447 and 438 BC the Parthenon, the majestic temple of Pallas Athena, was built. After that the construction of the building that would become the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, the Propylaea, started. In 431 BC the work at the Propylaea stopped as the Peloponessian war erupted. After the dead of Pericles in 429 BC the little Nike temple was built in the middle of the war, between 427 and 424 BC Later on the Erechteum was built between 421 and 406 BC, followed by some minor temples and buildings.