Much like their modern counterparts, Greek artists of long ago were known for their exquisite craftsmanship—as illustrated by these 16th-century B.C. gold rings in Athens’s National Archaeological Museum. Photograph by Gordon Gahan

 

Athens Links

In print we take you on an all-night journey into Athens’s social life. Online we profile an accidental museum and ancient plazas.

Athens’s “Metro Museum”
Efforts to create a subway system in crowded metropolitan Athens (population 3,072,900) were launched eight years ago but delayed in part because workers encountered buried treasure—a subterranean trove of ancient artifacts and artworks. Amid urban progression and cultural preservation, Attiko Metro (the Athens subway authority) board members searched for a way to complete their project while still protecting their archaeological discovery. They devised a unique solution that incorporates ancient art into the subway’s modern design. With this, the city’s “metro museum” was born.

The discovery of ancient artifacts and artworks similar to this duck-shaped, rock crystal bowl spurred an excavation of 70,000 square meters (83,720 square yards) shortly after construction began on the Athens subway system. Photograph by S.A. Athenon Ekdotike

Conceived as an urban transport system and a visible timeline, the metro presents a fascinating and in-depth view of Greek history that dates back to the fifth century B.C. Archaeological relics of ancient roads, shops, baths, and water systems—unearthed in excavations of more than 70,000 square meters (83,720 square yards)—are being craftily incorporated into metro stations’ first two levels. “The artwork provides character,” says Fady Bassily, general project manager for the metro. “And the metro system plays a significant role in improving the quality of life for the Greek people.”

“Eventually we plan to implement the art in every station,” says Rose Lagoudakou, an Attiko board member and civil engineer who chaired a committee for the aesthetic upgrading of the system. Currently three stations contain installations. Fourteen of the 21 stations outlined in the first phase of development have been in use since January 28, 2000. Depending on funding, the metro could eventually reach 100 kilometers (161 miles) with 92 stations.

Best of all, visitors don’t even need to purchase tickets to explore the metro museum, says architect George Ieromnimon. A significant portion of the entryway exhibits, which also include artwork from modern Greek artists, are set up in front of ticket validators to encourage further exploration. “It’s not only a huge tourist attraction,” Bassily remarks, “it’s a national pride.”

—Heather Morgan

Heather Morgan, a TRAVELER associate researcher, zips around town regularly on Washington, D.C.’s Metrorail. Her favorite metro, though, is in Paris.

Athens’s Scenic Squares
“Pame plateia—Shall we go to the square?” is an offer no Athenian can refuse. Every neighborhood has its plateia and every plateia its own particular charm. Kydathinaion square is like the rest of the Plaka neighborhood: pretty, packed, and overpriced. Thisseion square is a pasarella—a parade of trendy thirtysomethings alternately eyeing each other and the Acropolis view. Popular with pierced students and unpublished poets, Exarhia square is fondly known as Anarchia. The scent of sizzling calamari lures passersby into Plateia Kesariani’s famous restaurants. But the square, the place to see-and-be-seen, is glitzy Kolonaki.