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25-624: The municipality Penteli was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units: Penteli is situated on the southern slopes of the limestone Penteli mountains. The municipality has an area of 36.064 km, the municipal unit Penteli 28.878 km. It is 14 km northeast of central Athens. Some of the neighbourhoods of Penteli are Agia Triada, Agios Dimitrios, Daou and Kallithea. The bones of prehistoric animals - mastodons , rhinoceros , antelope , and giraffe , along with giant turtles , hyenas and other animals no longer extant in

50-628: A certain shape, such as for glass and tile, as a "quarry cut". The method of removal of stones from their natural bed by using different operations is called quarrying. Methods of quarrying include: Following steps are used in the blasting process; Many quarry stones such as marble , granite , limestone , and sandstone are cut into larger slabs and removed from the quarry. The surfaces are polished and finished with varying degrees of sheen or luster . Polished slabs are often cut into tiles or countertops and installed in many kinds of residential and commercial properties. Natural stone quarried from

75-506: A series of mudslides also occurred several years later and devastated some homes, continuing in part to this day. Yet again, twelve years after the major fire, flames once more encroached on the urban areas of Athens from June 30, 2007, the same day as the Parnitha fire, and a minor fire was seen northeast of Vrilissia , in which tens of houses and properties fell to the flames, along with its forests. The fire even burnt its dry grass which

100-451: Is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone , rock , construction aggregate , riprap , sand , gravel , or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safety risks and reduce their environmental impact. The word quarry can also include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone . Types of rock extracted from quarries include: Stone quarry

125-411: Is an outdated term for mining construction rocks (limestone, marble, granite, sandstone, etc.). There are open types (called quarries, or open-pit mines) and closed types ( mines and caves). For thousands of years, only hand tools had been used in quarries. In the eighteenth century, the use of drilling and blasting operations was mastered. The term remains used to describe a method of cutting into

150-544: Is fine grained with sporadic calcitic fossil clasts . Pentelic marble is divided into 3 units distinguishable by δ C and δ O values. δ C and δ O values have been used to precisely match marbles from the Acropolis to their source quarries. The Elgin Marbles have been traced to Unit 3 using this method. A fire in early July 1995 consumed much of the mountain forest, and the eastern half became residential districts of

175-533: Is of exceptionally high quality and was used to construct much of the Athenian Acropolis . Later, Pentelic marble was exported to Rome , where it was used in construction and in sculptures. In ancient times it was also called Brilessos or Brilettos ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Βριλησσός , Βριληττός ) which is the origin of the name of the nearby suburb of Vrilissia. Mount Pentelicus has been famous for its marble since antiquity. Pentelic marble

200-812: Is the site of the ancient town of Pentele . During the Greek War of Independence , the French philhellene Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance supported the revolutionary leaders. When she settled in Greece in 1834, she bought large plots of land in Athens and on the Penteli mountain. She had the Rododafni Castle built for her. In July 1995, Penteli was ravaged by a large forest fire. According to Turkish former prime minister, Mesut Yilmaz, many of

225-535: The Coquina quarry is excavated to more than 60 feet (18 m) below sea level. To reduce surface leakage, a moat lined with clay was constructed around the entire quarry. Groundwater entering the pit is pumped up into the moat. As a quarry becomes deeper, water inflows generally increase and it also becomes more expensive to lift the water higher during removal; this can become the limiting factor in quarry depth. Some water-filled quarries are worked from beneath

250-505: The Argus, the great and prolific post-Byzantine ecclesiastic iconographer of the 18th century. [REDACTED] Media related to Penteli at Wikimedia Commons Mount Pentelicus Mount Pentelicus or Pentelikon ( Greek : Πεντέλη , Πεντελικόν or Πεντελικό Όρος ) is a mountain in Attica , Greece , situated northeast of Athens and southwest of Marathon . Its highest point is

275-542: The Athens area. The volume of smoke was tremendous; it nearly covered the entire northeastern part of Athens, and all terrestrial televisual media covered the fire. The blaze lasted about five days; it reached east of Penteli about 5:30 p.m. local time, and then into the Pentelis and Vrilissia, consuming a group of houses on Friday night (about 9:00 p.m. EET, 7:00 p.m. UTC), the northern range on Saturday morning, Rhea on Saturday afternoon, Anoixi on Monday, and

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300-481: The Dionysus communities on Saturday. It consumed three quarters of the slopes of Mount Pentelicus, and was the worst forest fire Athens and Greece had seen in the 20th century. Housing development took place in the eastern half of the mountain which removed what was left of nature from the mountain, and streets are grid and circular. Many are luxurious and several houses were later added; a mining area also removed what

325-700: The area - have been found among the limestone crags of the mountain that looms over the present suburb of Athens. The Penteli mountains were renowned in Classical Greece as well as in the Roman Empire as a source of "Pentelic" marble , notably used to build the Parthenon and the Tower of the Winds . The Romans constructed a 140-foot water tower and aqueduct to supply water to the city of Athens. Penteli

350-411: The blaze lasted into the evening hours and its head burnt near the town, while Vrilissia, eastern Nea Erythraia, Ekali, and Dionyssos were also hit. Its cause, like most of the fires of 2007, was arson; a former firefighter was charged with fire-setting and has been sentenced and jailed. During the country's worst ever fire, which broke the 1950s record on August 26, 2007, flames sparked by arson ravaged

375-488: The chief Acropolis restoration architect , Professor Manolis Korres , in his award-winning book From Pentelicon to the Parthenon . A monastery is also located in the middle of the mountain, north-east of the city center. Pentelic marble is white with a uniform, faint yellow tint, which makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight. Pentelic marble is calcitic in composition with quartz as an accessory mineral . It

400-401: The earth is often considered a luxury and tends to be a highly durable surface, thus highly desirable. Quarries in level areas with shallow groundwater or which are located close to surface water often have engineering problems with drainage . Generally the water is removed by pumping while the quarry is operational, but for high inflows more complex approaches may be required. For example,

425-571: The forest fires that raged the Greek countryside during that summer were actually started by Turkish secret service agents. The forests of Penteli suffered damage again from the August 2007 fires . The area is serviced by Pentelis railway station on the Athens Airport–Patras line . The catholicon of the old Monastery of St.Nicholas (Kallesia-Penteli). A wall painting monument of George Markou

450-415: The forests of the remainder of the area around Mount Pentelicus and burnt pine, spruce and fir trees, lasting for several days; this was not the same blaze that had arrived from Keratea and Markopoulo to the south. In July 2022 another wildfire destroyed several hectares of forest land in the eastern side of the mountain. *Not included the most parts of Athens urban area Quarry A quarry

475-507: The peak Pyrgari , with an elevation of 1,109 m. The mountain is covered in large part with forest (about 60 or 70%), and can be seen from southern Athens ( Attica ), the Pedia plain, Parnitha , and the southern part of the northern suburbs of Athens. Houses surround the mountain, especially in Vrilissia , Penteli , Ekali , Dionysos , and north of Gerakas . Marble from Mount Pentelicus

500-500: The pollution of public roads, wheel washing systems are becoming more common. Many quarries naturally fill with water after abandonment and become lakes . Others are made into landfills . Water-filled quarries can be very deep, often 50 ft (15 m) or more, and surprisingly cold, so swimming in quarry lakes is generally not recommended. Unexpectedly cold water can cause a swimmer's muscles to suddenly weaken; it can also cause shock and even hypothermia . Though quarry water

525-561: The sky, along with an attendant smoke. The blaze spread, burning tens or hundreds buildings, many of them near the forested areas, and a western portion 10 km long from north to south, and 4 to 5 km wide from east to west. Firefighters along with the neighborhood's panicked residents battled the blaze on neighborhood streets, and helicopters sprayed the blaze. The fire had begun in the afternoon hours and quickly spread. One conflagration burnt trees in seconds, another extended to balconies with grills destroyed, and several roofs collapsed -

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550-478: The water, by dredging. Many people and municipalities consider quarries to be eyesores and require various abatement methods to address problems with noise, dust, and appearance. One of the more effective and famous examples of successful quarry restoration is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A further problem is pollution of roads from trucks leaving the quarries. To control and restrain

575-406: Was left from nature in the eastern half. The northern half remains heavily forested. A series of fires also occurred after the major fire devastated the mountain range, from 1998 to 2001. Many of the fires were arson-related and suspects were arrested. After the major forest fire of July 1995, three years later in the area of Drafi , mudslides blocked roads as a rock clogged off a residential road;

600-507: Was the chief pattern of spread; the people of the area now favor removal of dry grass from future wildfires. The blaze burnt tens of hectares and lasted through the late afternoon to the late-night hours, and was seen as far as neighborhood streets and broader Athens. One and a half months later, a huge fire yet again battered the forests adjoining Penteli and Vrilissia. This time the wildfire was larger and more destructive, with flames towering as high as 50 to 60 m, and almost blocking any view of

625-558: Was used for the construction of buildings in ancient Athens , particularly the Acropolis . The ancient quarry is protected by law, and used exclusively to obtain material for the Acropolis Restoration Project . The roadway used to transport marble blocks from the quarry to the Acropolis in antiquity is a continual downhill, and follows the natural lay of the land. It has been researched and fully documented by

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