Metaxourgio

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Metaxourgio ( Greek Μεταξουργείο ( n. Sg. )) Or Metaxourgeio is a district of Athens . The neighborhood is located northwest of the historical center of Athens, between Kolonos in the east and Kerameikos in the west, and north of Gazi .

history

Art by Alekos Fassianos in the metro station

Metaxourgio was created on the Dimosio Sima , the ancient cemetery for important Athenian citizens. The area was dominated by rural areas until the 19th century. This changed with the establishment of the silk factory (Greek Metaxourgio). In the vicinity of the factory, craft businesses and shops settled, and workers' apartments were also built. In the 1970s and 1980s, the district became neglected. Buildings were not rehabilitated, the quarter suffered from heavy traffic, while factories and craft shops closed at the same time.

By 2000 the area's population had stabilized, largely due to an influx of both immigrants and the upper middle class. The district also benefited from renovation subsidies for apartment buildings at the turn of the millennium; in general, gentrification began, which has not yet been completed. After a long period of neglect in the late 20th century, the area began to gain a reputation as an artist and fashion district with the opening of art galleries, museums and fashionable restaurants and cafes. In addition, initiatives by the local residents with the aim of beautifying and revitalizing the district have strengthened the sense of community and artistic expression. Since January 2000, the district with the station of the same name has been connected to Line 2 of the Athens Metro .

Attractions

Galleries

The Megaron Kantakouzinou designed by Hans Christian Hansen . on the left the still unrenovated facade side
  • Athens Municipal Gallery - This 1,500 m² gallery has been housed in a renovated 19th century building by Hans Christian Hansen since October 27, 2010.
  • Rebecca Camhi Gallery - Opened in 1995 and housed in a neoclassical building on Leonidou Street, this gallery is characterized by contemporary art in all media.
  • The Breeder - Located at Evmorfopoulou 6, contains contemporary art.

theatre

  • Kunsthalle Athena - An open space that offers theater and musical performances; in the Kerameikou 28.
  • Metaxourgio - A multi-purpose place for performances of all kinds in Akadimou 16, offers a theater, music bar and restaurant.
  • Theatro Attis - contemporary theater in Leonidou 7.
  • Synergio - contemporary theater in Leonidou 15.
  • Theatro Tis Anixis - Germanikou 20.

Architecture and street art

A tour of Metaxourgio reveals the rise, fall and resurrection of the district through its architecture and art. The narrow streets and the occasional cobblestone sidewalks help create a village feel. Large and monotonous houses stand next to decaying, abandoned buildings that have squiggly neoclassical elements. Some of the latter have been saved from decay and restored as stage spaces and restaurants. Street art is ubiquitous and ranges from the contributions of professional artists during the ReMap2 project to the work of anonymous artists who added interesting details to brick walls, mature buildings, and public green spaces.

Personalities

  • Alekos Fassianos (born 1935) is a respected and acclaimed Greek painter whose most recent work "The Myth of My Quarter" is on display in the Metaxourgeio metro station. Since his first exhibition in Athens in 1953, he has seen more than 70 exhibitions dedicated to him in Paris, Athens, Thessaloniki, Milan, New York, London, Tokyo, Beirut, Hamburg, Munich and elsewhere. In addition to painting, he is engaged in writing, poster design, the illustration of books and various publications in Greece and abroad.
  • Anthony Samarakis was born in Athens in 1919. He studied law at the University of Athens. Due to his enormous social commitment, he has become known not only as an author, but also as a citizen actively involved in events.
  • Vicky Moscholiou is a famous Greek singer, born in Metaxourgeio in 1943. She was said to have a 'special' voice. She became famous in 1964 with Stavros Xarhakos ' song "Hathike to feggari" (The moon is lost), which was composed for the film Lola . Nightclubs in Athens are named after two of their hits, "Deilina" (afternoons) and "Ximeromata" (dawn). She was one of the first in Greece to sing in both nightclubs and concerts, and she has also sung in the royal courts of Greece, Persia and Jordan.
  • Giorgos Zampetas was born in Metaxourgeio in 1925 and is recognized as one of the greatest bouzouki players as well as a composer and singer. He showed musical interest from a young age when he secretly played the bouzouki in his father's hairdressing salon. At the age of seven he won a school competition by playing his first self-composed song.
  • Tasos Livaditis (April 1922 – October 1988) was a poet born in Metaxourgeio, whose poems became famous through the settings of the composer Mikis Theodorakis .
  • Sotiris Spatharis was born on the island of Santorini in 1892. As a child, his parents moved to the Metaxourgeio district in Athens, where he learned the art of shadow theater from Theodoros Theodorellos, a student of Mimaros. In 1950, Spatharis began to write his memoirs, which first appeared in 1960 and provided historians with rich material on the origins and development of shadow theater. He died on April 17, 1974.
  • Aristomenis Provelengios (1914–1999) is a celebrated Greek architect who was President of the Greek Institute of Architects for a period from 1962. One of his works that can still be seen today is the Au Revoir on Patission Street, one of the last of the old cafés there.
  • Zeta Makripoulia (born 1978) is an actress, TV presenter and radio DJ. After appearing in a significant number of TV series and plays, she became known to a wide audience through the success of the Para Pente TV series . Between 2008 and 2010 she starred in three cinema productions. One of her television appearances that was broadcast worldwide was the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens.

various

  • There is a food market every Monday on Kerameikos Street.
  • There are numerous Asian food and textile shops between Kolonou and Kolokynthous streets.
  • In 2010 an architectural competition was announced for architects under 35 to create a student residence around 34 Marathonos Street.

literature

  • Chrysostomos Makrakis , "Karachalios, The Area of ​​Metaxourgio in Transition; Dynamics and Actors' Tactics," 42nd ISoCaRP Congress 2006
  • Katerina Lymperopolou , "The Transformation of Metaxorgeio," TO BHMA, June 13, 2010

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://metaxourgeio.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/prosopikotites/
  2. ↑ http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/Sotiris_Spatharis
  3. ↑ http://www.heliarch.gr/
  4. ↑ http://www.athensguide.com/kypseli/nightlife.htm

Web links

Commons : Metaxourgio  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 37 ° 59 '9.6 "  N , 23 ° 43' 17.4"  E