Perserschutt

thumb|right|The photographed in 1866, just after the first excavation was completed. The famous Kritios Boy appears on the right. The '''''' (), as it is called in the German language, is the collection of ancient votive and architectural sculptures that belonged to the Acropolis of Athens before being destroyed during the second Persian invasion of Greece, which took place between 480 and 479 BCE. After defeating the Achaemenid Empire, the Greeks cleared and buried what was left of the Acropolis following the Persian destruction of Athens and subsequently rebuilt the city. A team of French, German, and Greek archaeologists discovered and excavated what would become known as the in the 19th century, and a number of the collection's artifacts are on display at the Acropolis Museum.

==History== thumb|left|The Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis excavation pit, where some remains of Archaic statues were found, just northwest of the [[Erechtheion.]]