The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Syntagma
Square
Otherwise
known as Constitution Square, Syntagma Square
is a very significant area that you will probably
encounter several times during your stay in Athens.
The square has a long lasting history and even
today you have a good chance of finding a demonstration
of some sort in or near the square.
In
the square's center there are copies presented
by Lord Bute, a court retainer of King Otto, of
statues from a Naples museum. The 100 or so trees
within the square include oleanders, orange trees
and cypresses. The square is a conflicting mixture
of bumper to bumper cars and shoulder to shoulder
people on its lower perimeter and a more serene,
wider, tree shaded, central expanse; the focus
of which is a brown marble fountain in the middle
of the square. Its turned on most of the time.
The many benches provide room to take a break
in the shade. There are three metro entrances
in the square.
The
whole of today's Syntagma Square was the front lawn of the palace
with which Otto's bride, Queen Amalia concerned herself with.
Initially the Greek public was admitted into the gardens but the
Queen felt this privilege was being abused and banned their entry.
The ostentatious palace and luxuriant gardens stirred up resentment
with the Greek populace. Further the Queen, in order to water
the plants, diverted several reservoirs which supplied residents
with drinking water. Otto was deposed in 1862 and King George
I of Denmark replaced him.
After ten months or restoring, Syntagma Square
is open to the public again, more beautiful than
ever. The design of the square was kept unchanged.
All white marble has been renewed as well as the
many benches. The old lampposts have been replaced
by beautiful new ones. The fountain has been renewed
and water ponds have been put in on the long sides
of the square. Most of the big stairs leading
up to Amalias Avenue is new too.
One
can’t help but admire the efforts the City
of Athens has put in restoring the square. With
all the new white marble and the Athens sun lighting
it up, one does need sunglasses on the square
though.
Plateia
Syntagmatos (Constitution Square) is the heart
of modern Athens, where you'll find hotels, offices,
banks, restaurants and cafes. What is most interesting
in the square though are the Athenians themselves
and it is very much used as a meeting point.
When
first built in 1843, today’s Parliament
building (the Vouli) was designed as an imposing
palace for imported and unwanted King Otto Wittlesbach,
a 17 year old Bavarian prince and son of King
Ludwig of Bavaria. King Ludwig ran out of money
and the Bavarian state architect, Friedrich von
Gartner, complained that the resulting structure,
without his proposed but unaffordable decorative
embellishment, looked like an army barracks. The
building is a representative sample of the early
period of Neoclassicism in Greece, and it is a
work of strict geometry in its mass.
The
Palace had 365 rooms and 1 bathroom whose water
faucets produced a trickle of water, dead cockroaches
and fauna.
The
building was remodeled in 1910 to house the Hellenic
parliament. Today, it still serves as the seat
of the Hellenic parliament and houses offices,
the national assembly room, the office of the
president of the assembly, the archives and other
services.
In
front of the parliament building is the Tomb of
the Unknown soldier. It is guarded around the
clock by the Evzone's. Read more about them and
the changing of the guard on the Evzones page.
You
will find the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front
of the Parliament on Amalias Avenue and Syntagma Square.
Its central part, created by the sculptor Fokion Rok,
depicts a naked dead soldier only carrying his armor.
This
image was inspired by a sculpture on the pediment of the
ancient Temple of Aphaia on Aegina Island. Writings from
Pericles' funeral oration, as it was passed on by Thucydides,
are engraved on the wall around the soldier. On the two
sides of the moment there are copper plates listing all
the military events in which Greece has taken part from
the Greek War of Independence (1821) till today.
The
monument was made in 1929-30 and designed by the architect
Emmanouil Lazaridis. It actually is a cenotaph (a tomb
or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of
persons whose remains are elsewhere) which, in the tradition
adopted by numerous countries, commemorates all the fallen
soldiers of a war.
The
monument’s style is intended to unify it with the
neoclassical style and the significance of the Parliament.
It gives the impression of a “timeless” monument,
as if it were always there to remind the visitors of Greece’s
glory.
The
monument is guarded 24 hours a day by the Presidential
Guard, also known as Evzones (Evzoni), who are wearing
the traditional 19th century costume from southern
Greece. The most characteristic part of this uniform
is the skirt called foustanela. There is an hourly
change of the guard. On Sundays at 11:00, there is
an official change accompanied by military music.
On Greece’s national holidays
of 28 October and 25 March, a grandstand is placed in
front of the monument for statesmen and officials
attending the parade. Read more about them and the
changing of the guard on the Evzones page.
The
space between the Monument of the Unknown Soldier and
Amalias Avenue is officially called Parliament Square
although people refer to it as the “Unknown Soldier”
or “O agnostos” (the Unknown). Excavations
for the metro station (Syntagma) uncovered the bed of
the river Eridanos which used to flow down from Lycavittos
Hill as well as a complex of Roman baths, a bronze sculpture
workshop and numerous tombs.
The
pigeons of Syntagma
The
pigeons of Syntagma have been around as long as
the square has been there. Even in the old days
when the square was the front lawn of the palace
of Otto, there were pigeons. Most of the other
birds are in the National Gardens and leave the
square to be pigeon territory.
You
will find the majority of the pigeons in the open
space in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Solders
where you can buy seeds at a little stand to feed
them. When you do, you will be in the center of
their attention. They will sit on your hand, arm,
shoulder, yes, even on your head. They used to
having adults and children around.
The
pigeons will stay close to you when having a snack
on the street terraces of one of the fast food
restaurants at the opposite side of the square.
They clean the street of anything eatable dropped
and they will inspect your table after you have
gone, looking for leftovers. Some kiosk owners
put little containers with fresh water at the
foot of trees for the pigeons to drink from.
The
pigeons are as much of a historical part of Syntagma
square as is the fountain, the statues, the benches
and the trees.