The Parthenon in Athens, Greece

In sharp contrast, and with the very epitome of true poetic romance, the white Greecian houses are all clustered together on the turquoisey blue Mediterranean sea as if huddling from some ancient warrior, about to return to reek havok on the land. The sun bakes the lands over and over again, while the houses stand out like bleached whale bones, washed up on shore centuries ago. These are the lands that are rich in historical value, paid for in blood by the many soldiers who have fought here, been wounded here, even died in this now placid and beautiful region.

The Parthenon was constructed between 447 B.C. and 438 B.C. Dedicated to the Goddess Athena, it was a monumental work of sheer volumes marble that would even be impressive built today. Ictinus and Callicrates worked jointly to erect this massive monument. A pulley system was devised to move the large marble blocks to bring them closer to where they would be raised, in a vertical position.

There is a very good video relating to this at:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/ancient_greece_and_rome/room_18_gree
ce_parthenon_scu.aspx

It is very difficult to place an actual monetary value of just what the Parthenon would be worth today. This link may give you some idea, or it may just confuse you.
http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html

A Venetian mortar exploded inside the Parthenon in 1687 and did severe damage to this iconic structure. The building was partly destroyed and the remnants of the roof collapsed. It was also a tragedy in the Art world where many of the elegant and priceless sculptures were destroyed.

This preceding link is courtesy of Marc Brownlow. He has done some amazing interpretations of just what that explosion may have looked like.
http://brownlowdesign.com/ILLUS/PAR-Boom.htm

The Elgin Marbles refer to, specifically, a collection of sculptures, mostly frieze, purchased from Lord Elgin via the British Parliament in 1816. These frieze depict scenes of various persons, horses and mythological beasts that spanned roughly half of the surviving Parthenon. They were eventually housed in the British Museum in 1832.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles (circa: 1801-1812)

Weather:
Temperatures range from the 50's (F) in January to around 100 (F) in August.

If you were ever to conceive and imagine just what the Parthenon would be like today, if it existed in it's fifth century splendor, it literally would be incomparable to any of the world's finest museums and attractions. One could not grasp the depthless magnitude of it's riches, it's regal beauty. The peoples of Greece live within the shadows of one of, if not the, greatest buildings in
history. Which leaves us a most quixotic question to ask: 'Will it ever be superceded in this century, or in any other?' Perhaps the ever telling sands of time will reveal that question for us, some day.

Links:
http://www.athenstours.net/
http://ca.contiki.com/contikipedia/articles/the-acropolis-and-the-parthenon-athens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon
http://www.athensinfoguide.com/wtsacropparthenon.htm
http://gogreece.about.com/od/athenssightseeing1/tp/athensattract.htm
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/athens-parthenon
http://upge.wn.com/?t=ancientgreece/index22.txt some nice facts.