The Zappeion is one of the most important buildings in Athens. Its construction was financed by the philanthropist Evangelos Zappas and was completed in 1888. The neoclassical mansion is intertwined with the history of modern Greece. Today it functions as a conference and exhibition center. In 1869, the Greek government allocated 8.000 m? of public land for the building in the space between the palace gardens and the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus. On November 30.1869, the Greek Parliament also passed a law specifically for the construction of the buildings of the 1896 Olympic Games, as the Zappeion was the first building in the world to be built exclusively for the Olympic Games.→