People from all over the known world flocked to the Zeus-dedicated sanctuary at Olympia every four years to watch the most prestigious sporting contests in antiquity, the Olympic Games, and also to develop important social contacts by attending the banquets. The place for such activities was the Leonidaion, a lodging and banqueting house that could accommodate just under 300 people.
The building was built around 330 t0 320 BC at the expense of, and possibly designed by, Leonidas of Naxos, after whom it is named. The Leonidaion was reconstructed in the Roman imperial period and acquired a landscaped garden with artistically designed plant beds encircled by flowing water, providing guests with a place to relax.
A new research project investigating the construction history of the complex was launched in 2014, as part of the DAI’s Olympia excavations going on since 1875.
View of the Leonidaion from the southwest (Photo: DAI) 
Alle Mauern werden neu vermessen und aufgenommen (Foto: Claudia Mächler, DAI) 
Ancient Olympia from the west. The Leonidaion in the foreground right (Photo: H.R. Goette, DAI)