Erected by the ancient Greeks as a temple to Athena, the
Parthenon has served as a church, a fortress, an ammunition dump
and the model for countless banks, courthouses and museums
across the world. It has been shot at, exploded, set on fire,
rocked by earthquakes, looted for its magnificent sculptures and
subjected to restorations that have been termed
â€œcatastrophic.â€ Despite so much abuse and renown as an icon
of Western civilization, the question of how the Parthenon was
built has been largely ignored until recently. Now, thanks to
the Greek governmentâ€™s $10 billion restoration program,
scholars are finally probing the enigmas of its planning and
construction.Â With unprecedented access,Â NOVAÂ presents the
inside story of the official restoration, which reaches far
beyond the challenges and controversies of conserving one of the
worldâ€™s best-known buildings. The researchers are confronting
some truly monumental riddles: How did the ancient Athenians
build their great temple with incredible precisio