Tag: Center of Athens

What is Theodoros Kolokotronis pointing at, and what’s curious about the stance of his horse?

If you have passed through Stadiou Avenue in the center of Athens, you have probably noticed the impressive statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis, a hero of the Greek Revolution. The statue is imposing and dominates the homonymous square. It is one of the most important works of Greek sculpture and even the first statue of a mounted man in Modern Greek sculpture. In 1884, residents of Nafplion (the first capital of Greece after liberation from the Ottoman Empire) raised funds for the creation of a statue. After announcing a competition, they ...

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A macabre exhibit from 1821 in the Museum of the Old Parliament

A visit to a museum is always a journey through time, in a culture, or in history. Especially when it has to do with the 1821 revolution in Greece, one can find many exhibits, relics, and even paintings in many museums of Greece. This is also the case with the National Museum of History otherwise called the Museum of the Old Parliament. There are treasures there, that you won't see anywhere else. In this museum which is in the heart of Athens, you can see many exhibits including the costume ...

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Athens: the road that’s had the same name for 25 centuries

The history of Athens is lost in the depths of time and with it, many things have changed in the city such as people’s neighborhoods, districts, and habits. However, there are some things that seem to stay the same or almost the same in Athens. One of them is a street in the historic center of the city - the oldest road to be exact - which has been named the same for 25 centuries The History of the Road in Ancient Athens We are talking about a small road ...

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Areas of Athens that changed their names over the years

Athens changes over the years and with it the neighborhoods, people, and well-known parts of the city changed. These changes could not be missing from the names of many areas of Athens that after various events, stories and faces, changed. For example, what area were the Koukouvaounes, and which one was the Kakosalesi? Let's go check them out... Vourlopotamos: is the name of today's Amphithea, in Paleo Faliro (near the coast of Attika), which used to borrow its name from the stream that crossed it. It retained that name until ...

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What was Athens called before it acquired its present name.

Athens is known to be one of the oldest cities, not only of Greece but also of the whole world. With a history lost in the depths of the centuries, she could only have changed various names before acquiring her present name. Athens and its history The history of Athens, as we know it to this day, goes back to 3,200 Bc. This places the city in the position of one of the most ancient, continually inhabited cities of the whole world. The first inhabitants of the area are considered ...

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Ermou: this street was made for walkin’

The pedestrianization of Ermou Street, a major shopping street in Athens, was a topic of discussion that began in the 1980s. The final decision was made years later, and work started in April 1995. The official inauguration was at the end of 1997. Ermou Street has a rich history. It was one of the first streets designed in modern Athens. When the city’s first urban plans were drafted in 1833, architects Kleanthis and Saubert included it as a main axis. Its name was not accidental. It was intended to be ...

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Why did this famous Athenian statue stay in the workshop for 38 years?

Athens, in many places, looks like an open museum with the various statues reminiscent of moments from the past. Many of them have their own story sometimes more straightforward and other times more strange. Like the story of a well-known statue of Athens that stayed in the workshop for 38 years. Which is it? It is called The woodcutter. The woodcutter and his story When you walk downwards the Herod Attikos street, a little before you reach Vasilissis Olgas avenue, you will see a marble statue in a clearing of ...

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Paved in a day: the history of Syngrou Avenue

It is one of the most central roads of Attica that has always connected the center of Athens to the sea. Its history is lost over the years with many important events linked to it. It has gone through various reconstructions until it reached its present form. Talking about Syngrou Avenue. Syngrou and its history Syngrou Avenue was built at a place which was not selected by chance. The area has always been a hub through which people and means of transport were passing through to go and back and ...

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A secret city under Athens

This is how you could describe what lies beneath the capital of Greece. The places above which you have walked hundreds of times without knowing what is there. We are speaking about the "unknown city" under Athens, the shelters, and of a "city" that few know about. This small new city of Athens was created during the Second World War. Athens was bombed and the population should have places to be protected. This is how the shelters were created. It is actually a network of labyrinthine corridors and chambers that ...

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Attica: Educational Foundation of the Municipality of Athens, A unique treasury of memory

September 10th, 2020 Athens, 186 years after its official proclamation as the capital of Greece  and the establishment, in the same year, of the Municipality of Athens (1834), acquires, an autonomous center for the study and promotion of its material and intangible treasures. A treasury of memory worthy of its history. This is the "Educational Foundation of the Municipality of Athens", created by decision of the Municipal Council and initiative of the Deputy Mayor Eleftherios Skiadas and has as its main mission the identification, rescue, study, promotion, and promotion of ...

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Attica: Who was the “Minotaur” of Metaxourgio

Attica has experienced many changes and historical events over the years, some of which are of particular interest. This is also the case with the famous "Minotaur" of Metaxourgio. You may hear it for the first time, but it was a serious problem for Athens in the past few years. It was the "Minotaur" from which the whole of Athens wanted to rid, especially the area of Metaxourgio. The "Minotaur" of Metaxourgio which was a problem for Athens So what was the Minotaur? It was the marsh of the Prophet ...

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Old Athens: Pictures of Patision Avenue from another era

Walking the streets of Athens you may have wondered many times about what this place might have been like many decades ago. Most streets of Athens had a completely different image from what we see today. As is the case with one of the most central roads in Athens that once only carts and horse driven carriages circulated. Only a few details may help you realize it's the same road. Patision ave: What was one of the most central roads in Athens like, when there were only carts and carriages. ...

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Five districts in Athens that few know exist

Almost half of the population of the country lives in Athens divided into its dozens of regions and districts. Some of them, in fact, are unknown to many and are located in very central parts of the city. And you may have been to Vironas (from lord Byron's name) many times, but do you know what Nea Elvetia (meaning New Switzerland) is? Probably not... Here are, then, five districts of Athens that few know exist... Anakasa Anakasa is a district located west of New Philadelphia and further north of Agioi ...

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Shock, horror — the nude statues in old Athens

Having a history of centuries, Athens has gone through various stages and has many forms. Seeing, in fact, some places in photographs it is often impossible for us to recognize them. The Old Athens,has many stories to tell, unknown to most. As with the naked statues at the Sleman Mansion, one of the most beautiful neoclassical buildings of Athens. The funny story with the statues that bothered the prudish of the Old Athens But let's start from the beginning. A decade after his settlement in Athens and after becoming rich, ...

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The cave with the reliefs an from the centre of Athens

Attica hides many secrets and locations that many may not know. Places and attractions you may have been so close but not aware of. Among them is a cave that because it is not visited, many ignore it. It is located in the north of Vari and is called Nympholiptos Cave. The unknown cave is an hour away from Athens The Cave of Nympholiptos, also known as Panos Cave and Cave of Archedimou, is a cave on the southern slopes of Ymittos in Attica,in the north of Vari. is located ...

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Photographing Athens during a night walk

Athens has different and more mysterious charm at night. A unique glow that starts from the Acropolis and spreads throughout the city. On the days when we stay home, many of us are nostalgic for the night walks in the capital of Greece. And not without a cause. A walk from the center to the southern or the northern suburbs, can make you feel calm even if you don't get out of the car. It will make you take another look at this bustling city. Understand why Palamas used to ...

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This main Athens avenue was once a dirt track with chickens

Old Athenscertainly has many differences from the image that the capital of Greece has nowadays. And some places may have remained the same more or less (for example some neoclassical buildings) but there are also places that have become literally unrecognizable. Like, the city's main boulevards, for example. Can you think of Alexandras Avenue as a dirt road and chickens passing by it? And yet it looked like that before it was paved and changed name. Alexandras Avenue and its history Alexandras Avenue is a central artery that connects a ...

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The large squares of Athens and how they got their names

A characteristic of Athens as well as many other European cities is its large public squares that have many years of history. Public Squares that have witnessed various historical events and have become places of tears and revolutions. They have hosted mass gatherings and their names have been linked to great persons of its history. Athens has town-squares that are the center of the city-life that evolves around them until today. Let us go and see where some of the most famous acquired their names. Clafthmonos Square Or else, the ...

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Kerameikos: An open-air museum in the center of Athens

There is a lot that makes Athens special and one of them is certainly its history. Its rich history from antiquity to the present day. Walking, in the city you will observe all around you these pieces of history especially in the summer months. They come together like pieces of a puzzle and help you take a journey through time. In the beautiful, ugly, easy and difficult times that the capital of Greece has lived. A visit one has to make is Kerameikos no doubt. This is a unique open-air ...

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Ten things you definitely didn’t know about Athens

One cannot question the beauty of Athens. It may have changed a lot and and passed through various stages, over the centuries Athens, however retains its charm and its little secrets. There are definitely a lot of things you don't know about Athens. We present to you ten from them... Part of Alexandras Avenue is subject to the provincial road network. Not only is this central road of Athens that is under such a condition. There is an old decree, concerning roads that start from the center and are directed ...

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