Greece the heat wave temporarily closes the Acropolis

The Acropolis is temporarily closed on Tuesday as rising temperatures continue to grasp Greece.

The popular site in the capital of Athens was closed from 13: 00-17: 00 local time (11: 00-15: 00 BST), the Ministry of Culture in the country announced.

On Tuesday, maximums of 42C (107F) are forecast for parts of the European country and in several regions there is a warning of a wild fire in category.

It comes as there are fires in other parts of the continent, including France and the Spanish region of Catalonia, weeks after being struck by a deadly heat wave in early summer.

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

Its closure on Tuesday – with maximum 38C expected in the city – is not the first time Extreme Heat closed the popular attraction – then in June and last July.

Authorities said the closure was about the “safety of workers and visitors” at the site of tens of thousands of people every day, at a total of 4.5 million million in 2024.

The Ministry of Labor in the country also necessarily imposed a five-hour stop for manual work, workers outdoors between 12:00-17: 00 on Tuesday in the areas placed to see the worst heat.

The current Heatwave must continue on Wednesday, with estimates from 40-42C for the southern parts of the country before they start to break up on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 41 wild fires broke out on Monday, according to the country’s fire service. Of these, 34 are containing early, while seven remain active on Monday night.

Wild fire warning of category 4 was issued late on Monday for five regions: Attica, Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly and Western Greece.

The public was called to remain vigilant and the emergency services were on the alert, the country’s civil defense reported.

Elsewhere, more than 1,000 firefighters were involved in a fire in southwestern France at the beginning of Tuesday. Residents near Narbonne evacuated their homes, and a highway connecting France and Spain was closed.

In Catalonia, over 2000 people were subjected to a wild fire in the beginning of Tuesday, which broke out on Sunday, continued to rage in the eastern province of Taragona, according to local media.

Much of Western and southern Europe was affected by the burning early summer heat wave that saw thousands of evacuated, and homes and businesses are destroyed.

Thermal waves are becoming more common due to the climatic changes caused by humans, according to the UN intergovernmental panel to climate change.

He said the hot weather would happen more often – and it would become even more intensive – as the planet continues to warm.