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

The ancient citadel in the capital city of Athens – which contains many ancient Greek ruins – will shut 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 safety of workers and visitors” at the site, which is visited by tens of thousands of people every day, totalling 4.5 million 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 a high of 41C expected and the highest category five wildfire warning – signalling a state of alert and extreme risk – issued by the government.

This will cover four regions: Attica, central Greece, the Peloponnese, and Thessaly. A category four warning has been issued for several other parts of the country.

The heatwave will start to break on Thursday as temperatures are set to drop significantly.

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

This comes after 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.

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, Marseille Provence airport announced it was closing on Tuesday, due to a nearby wildfire that was spreading rapidly.

Meanwhile, near the southwestern town of Narbonne, more than 1,000 fire fighters tackled another wildfire. 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.

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of an ancient city in Peru’s northern Barranca province.

The 3,500-year-old city, named Peñico, is believed to have served as a key trading hub connecting early Pacific coast communities with those living in the Andes mountains and Amazon basin.

Located some 200km north of Lima, the site lies about 600 metres (1,970 feet) above sea level and is thought to have been founded between 1,800 and 1,500 BC – around the same time that early civilisations were flourishing in the Middle East and Asia.

Researchers say the discovery sheds light on what became of the Americas’ oldest civilisation, the Caral.

Drone footage released by researchers shows a circular structure on a hillside terrace at the city’s centre, surrounded by the remains of stone and mud buildings.

Eight years of research at the site unearthed 18 structures, including ceremonial temples and residential complexes.

In buildings at the site, researchers discovered ceremonial objects, clay sculptures of human and animal figures and necklaces made from beads and seashells.

Peñico is situated close to where Caral, recognised as the oldest known civilisation in the Americas, was established 5,000 years ago at around 3,000 BC in the Supe valley of Peru.

Caral features 32 monuments, including large pyramid structures, sophisticated irrigation agriculture and urban settlements. It is believed to have developed in isolation to other comparative early civilisations in India, Egypt, Sumeria and China.

Dr Ruth Shady, the archaeologist who led the recent research into Peñico and the excavation of Caral in the 1990s, said that the discovery was important for understanding what became of the Caral civilisation after it was decimated by climate change.

The Peñico community was “situated in a strategic location for trade, for exchange with societies from the coast, the highlands and the jungle”, Dr Shady told the Reuters news agency.

At a news conference unveiling the findings on Thursday, archaeologist Marco Machacuay, a researcher with the Ministry of Culture, said that Peñico’s significance lies in it being a continuation of the Caral society.

Peru is home to many of the Americas’ most significant archaeological discoveries, including the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Andes and the mysterious Nazca Lines etched into the desert along the central coast.