The broader region of Mount Olympus
The broader region of Mount Olympus is part of the Tentative list of Greece in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
The Mount Olympus is the highest mountain range in Greece, with the highest peak being almost 3000 metres high. In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the seat of the twelve Olympian gods. Mount Olympus National Park is home to a high diversity of flora and fauna. Furthermore, the region also includes a rich cultural heritage from ancient times and the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods, including the Chapel of the Prophet Elijah at 2800 metres altitude. It is the highest-altitude chapel of Orthodox Christianity.
Map of The broader region of Mount Olympus
Load mapThe coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.
Community Reviews
Matejicek
The area of the Mount Olympus National Park is accesible from tourist resorts of Olympus riviera. There are bus connections to village Litochoro that is considered as the gate to the Olympus area. From Litochoro, the most convenient is to take a cab (ca. 15 eur in 2006) to parking lot Prionia as we did. Then, we walked uphill to Spilios Agapitos Refuge, which is very convenient place to overnight and to explore the area. There are more Refuges in the area but this one is the biggest and most popular one. There is also marked trail from Litochoro uphill towards Olympus, but we decided to used it as a return-way.
When walking uphills, almost form the sea level, one can see the change of vegetation from bushes to pine forest to Alpine meadows to montaneous karst that is very impressive (photo). The highest peaks of Mount Olympus, with attitude slightly below 3000m, are located not far from Spolios Agapitos refuge, but the area of bare rocky mountains is larger, and it would require at least a couple of days to explore it properly. Anyway, the great abyss that surrounds the summits of Mytikas, Stefani and Skolio is really breath-taking. Unfortunatelly, I could not reach the top of Mytikas because of my vertigo... The entire area has prominent place in Greek mythology. Furthermore, in the broeder area of Olympus, there are also several monasteries and chapels from midle ages.
To concluded: besides the stuning natural beauty, the Mount Olympus with its cultural importance probably deserves to be inscribed as WHS.
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Site Info
- Full Name
- The broader region of Mount Olympus
- Country
- Greece
- Added
- 2003
- Nominated for
- 2025
- Type
- Mixed
- Categories
- Cultural Landscape - Associative Natural landscape - Mountain
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2024 Incomplete - not examined
2014 Revision
Renomination on new Tentative List. Name change from "Olympos" to "Olympus"
2003 Added to Tentative List
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