Points of interest

In 1971 the University of California, in Berkeley, USA, undertakes the excavations at the site of the Sanctuary of Zeus, in which 3 columns remain standing for centuries.

The late Professor Stephen G. Miller is designated as Excavator. The cost of the excavations as well as the construction of the museum are donations of Rudolph A. Peterson, as well as other American and Greek individuals.

The Museum was donated to the Greek state in 1984. Nowadays, it houses finds dating from Proto-Hellenic to Early Christian times, which come from ancient Nemea, Kleones, Fliounda and the Mycenaean cemetery of Aedonia, where the gold jewelries of the 15th century B.C. stand out.

In a small distance from the Museum is the ancient stadium, which was handed over to the Greek state in 1994.

In 573 BC Nemea stood out in Panhellenic games (such as Pythian, Olympic and Isthmian).

In 415 BC during the Peloponnesian War the Sanctuary of Nemean Zeus is destroyed and rebuilt in 330 BC, probably under the Macedonian Empire. In 271 BC the Games were moved to Argos and abolished in 435 AD. (under Emperor Theodosius II).

The revival of the Nemean Games took place in 1996, which is now an integral part of the cultural events of the region.

In June of each Olympic year, three days of festivities are held, starting with the opening ceremony and the arrival of the Olympic Flame, the road races and finally the closing ceremony.

So far, more than 3.000 people from 122 countries, aged from 5 to 97, have participated. The Eighth Nemeada took place on June 29, 2024.

Frankish castle on an impressive rocky hill in the entrance of Nemea.

It was one of the castles that controlled the Kontoporia Odos, the passage from Corinthia to Argolis, and was built in the 13th century. Before the fortress was built, a monastic center had been created on the slope of the hill and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary had been carved into the rock (11th – 12th century).

The monks seem to have left the center before the Frankish conquest. Unfortunately, there is no more surviving information about the monastery, as the archives were burned by Turks in 1770.

The monastery experienced great glories from the beginning of the 19th century until the time of Kapodistrias, while during the Revolution it offered important services to the Cause.

The chapel of Agios Georgios and its farm was belonged to the Holy Monastery of Agios Georgios Feneos.

The church is Byzantine style, stone built. Its length is 10.50 m, its width is 5.50 m and its height is 8.50 m. It has a polygonal dome and a well-kept grove.

Inside the temple, battlements are kept, a sign that during the turbulent years of the Turkish rule, the temple was a station of thieves.

Tied to the history of the place, it is also the symbol of the old name of the municipality’s headquarters. We do not know specifically when it was built, it is estimated around the 14th century.

The Mycenaean Cemetery of Aedonia is freely accessible and includes almost exclusively chambered tombs organized in groups-clusters. The tombs are completely dug into the natural rock and consist of three parts: the road, the mouth and the burial chamber (1650-1400 BC).

By the time the archaeological digging began, the tombs had already been captured and the finds had been trafficked by the gravediggers and through international antiquities trafficking rings abroad. In 1993 the “Treasure of Aedonia” was spotted by the Philhellenic Malcolm Wiener in an auction catalog at the Michael Ward Art Gallery in New York. The philhellenic specialist in Mycenaean Greece immediately informed the Greek Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Greece appealed to the New York Federal Court, the auction was canceled and the “Treasure of Aedonia” was returned to Greece in 1996.

Today, the treasure is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Nemea.

If you are fond of hiking, you can visit the Aedonia Waterfalls.

Access requires a hike of approximately 15 minutes with moderate difficulty. The path is marked with red arrows and in some places the climb is particularly demanding.

The outstanding environment will reward you.

Less than 30 km from Nemea, you will find Lake Stymfalia.

Stymfalia is a marshy lake in mountainous Corinth and is located on a plateau at an altitude of 600 meters between the Kyllini and Oligyrtos mountains. It retains water mainly in the winter months and its area reaches 3.5 sq. km. The lake is included in the European Network of Protected Areas NATURA 2000. On one of the hills surrounding the lake is the Stymfalia Environmental Museum, which is worth visiting.

At a distance of about 57 km from Nemea you will reach the Municipality of Feneos and Lake Doxa.

On the large plateau that stretches between the mountains of Kyllini (Zireia) and Helmos you will find the lake and the dam. Lake Doxa is artificial and is located at an altitude of 900 meters, in the heart of Ancient Feneos. Its construction was completed at the end of the 1990s, with the creation of a 225-meter-long dam of the Doxa stream. Reference point in the center of the lake, the small church of Agios Fanourios.

You can choose a horse ride along the lake, swim, cycle around the lake or even mountain bike and lake bikes.

A short distance from the lake you will find the Monastery of Agios Georgios, to which the homonymous chapel of Nemea belonged.