The seismic history of the centre of Athens may be revealed through the response of its classical andneo-classical columns to ambient noise and earthquake shaking. Detailed ambient vibration surveys in two casesare presented: a) the two choragic columns on the south slope of the Acropolis, above the Monument ofThrasyllos, constructed in the late classical-early Hellenistic era (3rd–1st century B.C.), with an original designand a high constructive quality (13 April – 10 May 2011) b) the statue of Apollo (mid-19th century), on the rightside of the Academy of Athens building prostyle, mounted on a column in the Ionian rhythm (5-13 March 2008).In the first (Acropolis) case, ambient noise measurements were performed with seven digital 3-componentseismographs at the top and the base of each column, as well as at three nearby reference sites. In addition,forced vibration tests at the top of each column were also conducted. In the second (Academy) case, fiveinstruments of the same type were installed at the base of the column, the base of the statue, with reference sitesat the two corners of the Academy building and the garden at the back side of the building. For both cases, the response spectra and amplitude ratios were computed, providing information on the soil-column interaction, as well as the characteristic frequencies of spectral ratios peaks.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the vulnerability to ground shaking of the building stock in the old town of Lefkada Island (Ionian Sea, W. Greece). The study area lies in the most seismically active zone of Greece region. Most of its buildings were built with local practices and have been designated by the European Council Cultural Heritage Unit as representative earthquake resistant constructions. Within the context of this research we conducted an in-situ survey, of all buildings in the old town. In addition, the 2001 buildings census catalogue elaborated by the National Statistical Service of Greece was employed, as well as the damage inspection data following the 2003 earthquake. The collected data, after a detailed processing, were projected as they would have been prior to the August, 14, 2003, Mw=6.2 Lefkada earthquake. Each building was indexed by an EMS-98 vulnerability class. All results were combined in an ArcGIS scheme in order to compute the lateral vulnerability distribution and to compare it with the 14/8/2003 earthquake effects.