Temple of Concordia

The Temple of Concordia is the Greek temple that survived almost whole. It stands on the rocky ridge of the Valley of the Temples below Agrigento, in southern Sicily, and apart from the Parthenon it is often called the best-preserved Doric temple in the world. Its complete ring of columns, its entablature and both pediments are still in place, and in the late afternoon the weathered limestone turns a warm gold against the blue of the sky and the distant sea. This is the building that shows, better than almost any other, what a Greek temple actually looked like as a volume in the landscape.

It was built around 440–430 BC by the Greek city of Akragas, the ancestor of modern Agrigento. The plan is classic: a peristyle of six by thirteen columns, each about six metres tall with twenty flutes and a gentle swelling, or entasis, that keeps the shafts from looking rigid. The temple measures roughly 39 by 17 metres and rests on a solid platform that levels the uneven rock beneath. Nobody knows which deity it served. The name Concordia is a later label, taken by scholars from a Roman-era Latin inscription found nearby that has nothing to do with the building.

Its survival is due to a change of faith. At the end of the sixth century AD the bishop Gregory of Agrigento turned the temple into a Christian church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The spaces between the columns were walled up and arches were cut through the walls of the inner chamber to make a nave with aisles. In the 1780s the church additions were removed and the temple was restored toward its classical form, but the openings in the inner walls still recall the building's second life.

Walk toward it along the ancient ridge of the Valley, which carries a whole line of Greek temples, and watch it grow in front of you; seen from a distance, with olive and almond country around it, it still reads as the landmark it was meant to be. The Valley of the Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Getting there

The temple is in the Valley of the Temples archaeological park, about 2.7 km from the centre of Agrigento. The nearest airport is Palermo Falcone–Borsellino (PMO), about 108 km away. Trains from Palermo Centrale reach Agrigento Centrale in about two hours; from Piazza Rosselli, a short walk from the station, local bus line 1 runs to the park's western entrance in about 20 minutes.