Greece opens ancient water clock in Athens to visitors

ATHENS, Greece — Greek heritage authorities have opened up to the public, for the first time in decades, a landmark 2,000-year-old clock tower in a major Athens archaeological site.

The culture ministry said Wednesday the Tower of the Winds, built in the 1st Century B.C. by the astronomer Andronikos Kyrrhestes, has undergone extensive conservation. It said the interior of the monument had been closed for most of Greece's modern history.

The octagonal marble building, most of which has survived intact, incorporated a water clock and sundials for telling the time. It was topped by a weather vane, set above relief carvings of the eight principal winds.

It stands in the site of the Roman Agora, under the Acropolis.