The University of Athens is a popular stop on many walking, driving, Segway, and Trikke tours of the city’s highlights, along with the Academy of Athens and National Library. Note that the building is not open to the public, so tours stop by the facade to admire the exterior architecture either by day or by night to take in the building dramatically lit after sunset.
Designed by Danish architects Theophil and Christian Hansen, this imposing 19th-century building is approached via a wide piazza filled with palm trees and fountains, and its symmetrical Neoclassical columns fronting an arcade decorated with murals by artists Rahl and Lebietski that showcase the birth of sciences in Greece make for striking photos.