One of my favorite pastimes during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece has been walking around the places in my city that I love the most and enjoying the view, without being interrupted by other passers-by, cars or the noise of other activities taking place nearby.
In the quiet of the empty city, one can better appreciate Athens’ long history, which bears many reminders of its centuries-old heritage.
Ancient and Byzantine structures coexist alongside neoclassical and eclectic inter-war and post-war buildings and buildings, which are often overlooked as we go through life. As we grow up, we learn about the golden age of Athens in the 5th century BCE and the splendid architecture of the Parthenon, but little attention is paid to our more recent urban heritage. MONUMENTALS managed to change that.
Over the past seven years, they have carried out a meticulous approach effort document the 19th and 20th century architectural landscape of Athens. This labor-intensive survey involved not only identifying and recording structures, but also collecting relevant information and documents with the aim of safeguarding each building’s history and the city’s collective memory . This includes architectural designs, old photos of the families who lived there, collecting stories about neighborhood life from residents: all the little things that create the identity and personality of Athens and its different neighborhoods.
This involved engaging closely with communities, organizing neighborhood meetings in local cafes (the traditional meeting places of locals), talking about life in the past with elderly residents or exchanging stories with the youngest, and organize guided tours of the surrounding streets. in some cases provided by these same neighborhood ambassadors. In an effort to raise awareness of our modern architectural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries and the importance of preserving it, a series of educational programs in schools and public debates were also organized. This initiative has attracted interest throughout Greece and has also been introduced in other cities, including Thessaloniki, Kalamata, Naxos, etc.
In March, a Facebook group was created to feature a different beautiful building each day to provide a small window of escape from the COVID-19 lockdown, but the group has transformed into an unexpected crowdsourcing tool for collecting and documenting buildings in all of Greece.
The MONUMENTA project has become a treasure of our modern architectural heritage, recording all structures from the last two centuries, not just those currently listed in the official ministry register. It has also become a resource of our collective urban memory, capturing rare snapshots of past urban life. And in this process, he made us all researchers of our neighborhoods, of our city, and offered us a delicious journey into their stories and their history.
If you want to know where the best dessert was served in the Agios Thomas neighborhood, you know where to ask. I will be sure to look for it the next time I leave the office and pass through Kerasountos Street.
Anna Maria Kosmoglou
SNF Program Manager, Athens
Read an article in I Kathimerini on the Facebook group for crowdsourcing information on historic buildings in Greece, and visit the official website of the MONUMENTA project the Facebook page.
