Sunday 24 June 2012

A City of Cities



GEOGRAPHICALLY
The city of Athens sprawls across the central plain of the Attica Basin.
It is bounded by four large mountains; Mount Aegaleo, Mount Parnitha, Mount Penteli and Mount Hymettus.
The city of Athens is “A City of Cities”.

8000 YEARS AGO
Ancient Athens is divided into two parts.
One part is “The City”, the other is “The Port City of Pireous”.
“The City” is a walled city consisting two distinct parts; The Upper City and The Lower City.
“The Port City of Pireous” is the other walled city consisting a port near the sea.
The two parts of Ancient Athens were connected by the Long Walls.
In “The City”, The Upper City is represented by the Acropolis, The Lower City is represented by the Agora.
The Acropolis is the greatest architectural artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world, an urbanism of pure forms disposed according to the sun.
The Agora is the living heart, the constant resort of all Athenians.
It did not spring to life on special occasions but was the daily scene of social life, business and politics; the civic centre, market and administration of justice.
In practical and political importance, the Agora constantly gained at the expense of the Acropolis.
Until the end, the Agora became the most vital and distinctive element of “The City”
Together, the Acropolis and the Agora formed a sort of double nucleus.

PRESENT
The city of Athens is divided into two parts.
One part is Ancient Athens, the other is Modern Athens.
Ancient Athens is represented by the Acropolis, the universal symbol of classical spirit and civilization.
The Acropolis is a survival, remembered as a symbol that gave Athenian life its peculiar richness; retention and transformation of archaic survivals.
Modern Athens is a triangle defined by Omonia, Kerameikos, Syntagma.
Omonia, the gateway to Athens for immigrant, is the apex of the triangle.
Kerameikos is an ancient cemetery and pottery quarter.
Syntagma was the ancient Boubounista Gate, then the Palace of the Bavarian king, and now, home to the Greek Parliament.
From the city’s apex, three radial boulevards; Pireous, Stadiau, and Athinas each meet Ermou at its base.
Stadiau and Pireous are the city’s oldest thoroughfares dating back to the construction of Themistoclean wall.
Athinas is the main axis towards the Acropolis, the dividing line between two halves of the triangle. 
Ermou crosses the centre of the city, the dividing line between Ancient and Modern Athens.
Monastraki is where Athinas meets Ermou, an open space with the most stunning view towards the Acropolis and the most picturesque square with the Acropolis as its backdrop.

ATHENS URBAN SYMBOLS
The Acropolis appears majestically monumental on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens
The Agora disappears in scattered ruin, buried under the palimpsest of plans, reminiscence of past memories
Modern Athens is represented by a triangle depicting the continuity between Ancient and Modern Athens.
However, contrary to its intention, the Acropolis and the triangle appears as isolated objects with no connections
One enters and exits the triangle in confusion, guided only by glimpses of the Acropolis along the main boulevards and squares
It is everywhere and nowhere, the triangle dissolves in the seamless concrete canvas of six to twelve storeys high
The Acropolis has the city of Athens all at its foothills, this time, without a living heart.

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