Greece heatwave closes the Acropolis temporarily

The Acropolis is closing temporarily on Tuesday as soaring temperatures continue to grip Greece.

The popular site in the capital city of Athens was shutting from 13:00-17:00 local time (11:00-15:00 BST), the country’s culture ministry said.

Highs of 42C (107F) are forecast for parts of the European country on Tuesday and a category four wildfire warning, signalling a very high risk, is in place in several regions.

It comes as wildfires were reported in other parts of the continent, including France and Spain’s Catalonia region, weeks after they were hit by a deadly early summer heatwave.

Changes to the Acropolis’ opening hours were announced on Monday after extreme heat returned to Greece on Sunday.

Its closure on Tuesday – with highs of 38C expected in the city – is not the first time extreme heat has shut the popular attraction – having done so in June and last July.

Authorities said the closure was for the “the safety of workers and visitors” at the site, which is visited by tens of thousands of people every day, totalling 4.5m in 2024.

The country’s labour ministry has also imposed a mandatory five-hour work stoppage for manual, outdoor workers between 12:00-17:00 on Tuesday in the areas set to see the worst heat.

The current heatwave is due to continue into Wednesday, with forecasts of 40-42C for southern parts of the country, before starting to break on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 41 wildfires broke out across Greece on Monday, according to the country’s fire service. Of those, 34 were contained early while seven remained active into Monday evening.

A Category 4 wildfire warning was issued late on Monday for five regions: Attica, the Peloponnese, central Greece, Thessaly and western Greece.

The public was urged to remain vigilant and emergency services were on high alert, the country’s civil protection said.

Elsewhere, more than 18,000 people were ordered to stay at home in Catalonia on Tuesday as a wildfire raged in the eastern province of Tarragona, the government said.

Spain’s emergency military unit was deployed alongside 300 firefighters as high winds overnight fanned the flames, which have spread across nearly 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of land.

Several other parts of the country – which experienced its hottest June on record – are on high alert for wildfires.

In France, more than 1,000 fire fighters tackled a wildfire near the southwestern town of Narbonne. Residents evacuated their homes, and a motorway linking France and Spain was shut.

Much of western and southern Europe was hit by a scorching early summer heatwave, which saw thousands evacuated, and homes and business destroyed.

Heatwaves are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It has said hot weather will happen more often – and become even more intense – as the planet continues to warm.