The University of Athens sits between two fountains on Panepistimiou Street, the second building in a neoclassical trilogy designed by Danish architect brothers Christian and Theophil Hansen, which includes the Academy and the National Library.

Its pillars and bases are identical copies of those guarding the entrance to the Acropolis, a deliberate echo that links modern Greek learning to its ancient inheritance. Construction began in 1864 under King Otto's patronage, though his ousting delayed completion until 1890.

Above the entrance, a vast frieze depicts the monarch himself: King Otto enthroned at its centre while Austrian painter Karl Rahl's work spreads to either side, showing the renaissance of Letters and the Arts under royal rule. Today, the building serves only as a ceremony hall and rectory; its teaching functions moved elsewhere, but it remains a monument to 19th-century ambitions for the newborn Greek state.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use the trilogy to trace how European architects and the Bavarian court influenced Athens' transformation into a modern cultural capital.