On a hillside above the port of Aegina is located the archaeological site of Kolona, where nearly all periods of the island’s long history are represented – from the Neolithic remains of private residences to the columns of Εarly Christianity.

The name of Kolona came from Venetian sailors, who navigated using the columns of the Temple of Apollo as a landmark, visible from the sea. Dating from the Archaic period in the 6th century BC, the temple is a peripteral structure of the Doric order. During the Copper age, between 2600 and 2500 BC, Kolona prospered, as it did during the Archaic period in 6th century BC when it was converted into Aegina’s acropolis and a place of worship.

Kolona’s final period of prosperity came in the Hellenistic era, under the rule of the Pergamon Kings. The settlement was deserted late in the 1st millennium AC.