Parthenon, Athens, Greece (447 – BCE to 438 BCE)
If there is any building that symbolizes ancient Greece, it is the Parthenon. Pericles had it built on the site of an earlier temple using 5,000 talents (about 3 billion USD) from the treasury of the Delian League (Greek city-states allied to fight the Persians). This was very controversial move. His political opponents were upset when he used public funds for the Parthenon project, but Pericles persisted. His masterpiece is the crown of the Acropolis Hill, with its fluted Doric columns and rising pediments. It was the temple to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, the capitol of the Athenian city-state. The original Athena statue went missing long ago, and the roof of the Parthenon blew off in 1687 when the Turks used it as an armory during its war with the Venetians. A mortar hit the gunpowder and blasted the roof off the building.