<Tr> <Th> Other designers </Th> <Td> Phidias (sculptor) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Parthenon (/ ˈpɑːrθəˌnɒn, - nən /; Ancient Greek: Παρθενών; Greek: Παρθενώνας, Parthenónas) is a former temple, on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron . Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power . It was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC . It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order . Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art . The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and western civilization, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments . To the Athenians who built it, the Parthenon and other Periclean monuments of the Acropolis, were seen fundamentally as a celebration of Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders and as a thanksgiving to the gods for that victory . The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a programme of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure . </P> <P> The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC . The temple is archaeoastronomically aligned to the Hyades . Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon served a practical purpose as the city treasury . For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire . In the final decade of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary . </P> <P> After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s . On 26 September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment . The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures . From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving sculptures with the alleged permission of the Ottoman Empire . These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, where they are now displayed . Since 1983 (on the initiative of Culture Minister Melina Mercouri), the Greek government has been committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece . </P>

When was the parthenon converted into a christian church