Back to Plato's Academy (pt.2)

The video installations at Plato’s Academy (Akademia Platonos) were all at the western section of the park. We  (we being wife and I) thought it proper to check out the north-eastern section as well, before night would set upon us for good. Exiting the park at Kratylou St. we walked to the left and across the street, searching for the preserved ruins of Akademos’ “Sacred House”. We did not see any improvement in the site from the last time we were here but, on top, we came across what seemed like a scene from a disaster movie.

Palm trees at Akademia Platonos, Athens, infected by the red palm weevil 

Palm trees at Akademia Platonos, Athens, infected by the red palm weevil 

I remembered a couple of articles I’d read about the “red beetle” (aka “red palm weevil”) and the havoc it’s causing in palm trees throughout Greece. This invasive species was introduced into Greece from affected palm trees about ten years ago, after being detected in various other Mediterranean countries. It feeds on the interior of palm trees and often causes their destruction. EU authorities were late in banning its import several years ago and Greek authorities have mostly been caught off guard when it comes to protecting palm trees in urban parks and other public spaces. This seemed to be one such case, with palm tree branches and leaves having wilted under the attack of their enemy. 

Palm tree trunk (middle of the picture), destroyed by the red palm weevil, at Akademia Platonos park, Athens, Greece 

Yet, the light of dusk did provide for some interesting photos and the air of destruction only added to that effect. 

Akademia Platonos park at dusk. Athens, Greece.

Akademia Platonos park / archaeological site at dusk. Athens, Greece.

Evening practice at a soccer field; next to Akademia Platonos park. Athens, Greece 

I’ll be curious to see the new landscaping choices for this park and how the red beetle problem gets treated, at least in  the case of Akademia Platonos. Once I do, I’ll let you all Plato fans out there know about it!

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Back to Plato’s Academy, this time for an art exhibit (pt.1)

It’s been two and a half years since I last went to Akademia Platonos Park; the archaeological site, turned urban park, in the western edge of Athens, where ancient philosopher Plato and his students used to hang out. On a side note, that first post was the reason for meeting a modern day English philosopher –the first person I met through this blog! Since then, there’s been a lot of talk on upgrading this urban area - with the park used as a catalyst for the project - but the whole thing seems to be moving very, very sloooowly, if at all.

"Visual Dialogues 2012" billboard near the entrance of Academia Platonos park 

An art exhibit, titled “Visual Dialogues 2012”, was what drew me in the park this time around. Sponsored by the big funding arm of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Onassis Cultural Centre, ten artists were invited to create video installations, dispersed in the park, within ephemeral wooden structures. A virtual “dialogue” between art, archaeology and the urban environment. A way to bring more people into the park, as I see it, but also in contact with an art form that most are not familiar with. 

Wooden projection room, at Academia Platonos

You get a slightly spooky feeling when you enter these dark, unmanned, isolated structures in the middle of the park but the presence of exhibit staff around the area is reassuring. Inside each one, runs the projection of a short, digital film in a continuous loop from noon till 6:00pm. Among the ten short films, the one that clearly stood out for me was that by Katerina Athanasopoulou - the first as you enter the park. Making reference to Plato’s work (Plato was the one who preserved Socrates’ teaching for the world to read), the video’s brochure tells us that “Socrates compared the human soul to a cage, within which elements of knowledge fly like birds. Born with an empty ‘cage’, people gradually collect birds/knowledge as they grow up. When a piece of information / knowledge is needed, humans try to recollect it ‘with their hand’, but sometimes they pick the wrong one. Furthermore, ornithologists have observed a pattern of restless anticipation in birds before the time of migration, both in free and in captive birds.” 

Apodemia, by Katerina Athanasopoulou

Apodemia, by Katerina Athanasopoulou

Combining the above concepts and images, the short film named “Apodemia” (which rimes with "Academia" and stands for "Emigration" in Greek), ) presents a flock of birds encircling an empty cage-bus which runs around the deserted streets of a vast city, half-built, with huge granite hands trying to alter its course but also catch the birds/knowledge. The haunting music by Jon Opstad and Clare Wheeler’s violin playing only add to the whole effect.

Symposium, by Maria Paschalidou

Other videos that spoke to me were the ones by Maria Paschalidou (Symposium: a reference to a local citizens group with an indirect reference to xenophobia, also using Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”), Maria Zervos (Nomadology: The Route), Myrto Vounatsou and Stelios Dexis (The Wave: a dual screen projection imparting a vague sense of fear and anxiety to its viewers) and Petros Touloudis (Via Recta: the breathless presentation of a hectic, fuzzy mountain/rock-climbing trip).

The Wave, by Myrto Vounatsou and Stelios Dexis

Entrance: Kratylou St.& Tripoleos St.

Transit: Bus 051 from Zenonos St., near Omonia Square (see map in previous post)

Admission: Free

Hours: Daily from 12:00 to 18:00 (arrive at 17:00 at the latest to be able to get a glimpse of most videos and the park). Running till February 10, 2013.

There was more to this visit but you'll have to wait for part 2...

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Plato's Academy and other... minor sights (Colonus hill)

Last Sunday afternoon, while it was still hot and sunny, we decided it was about time to go see the ...famous Akadimia Platonos park. This is an urban park, in the fringes of Athens, which was created fairly recently, about 10 years ago give or take. It is located in a poor neighborhood, 1-2 miles NW of the city center, very close to the Kifissos inter-city bus station and full of old, small industries that were abundant in neighborhoods like this till 1985, when a planning decree of the time forbid the expansion or extension of existing industries and gave motives for their relocation to areas away from Athens and / or Attica (Attica is the wider region of Metro Athens and the rural area around it).

What was left since then are the smallest of the small; family-size businesses that probably never had the aspiration or the possibility to grow and move far away from their owner's home. As urban renewal, in its modern-Greek form has touched other areas of the city, this one has been mostly left to ...evolve naturally, if at all. With industries gradually becoming smaller, older and rarer this is starting to have less of an industrial character and looks mostly like a lower working-class, mixed-use neighborhood.

The area and the park derives its name from ancient ruins that were discovered here, in a 1957-63 excavation, believed to belong to Akademos, one of the first settlers of ancient Athens. Ancient philosopher Plato used this area as grounds for his philosophical school, which he established in about 387 BC and taught there for about 40 years. This is how the word "Academy" was first coined and where the term academic comes from. Plato's Academy (i.e. philosophical school) remained in operation, in different forms and phases till AD 529 when it was shut down. Its last teachers found refuge in the Persian empire but were later permitted to return to Athens.

The modern day park, bearing the name Akadimia Platonos, just like a square in the same neighborhood, is quasi-urban, quasi-archaeological and is expected by some to be a catalyst for the rejuvenation and turnaround of this neighborhood, although things seem to have stagnated and the lack of funds will probably not help. The excavations had been there since the 1960's but the park has taken its current form in the past 10-20 years. The final borders and landscaping of the park are still a matter of debate and works were under way at some of the edges when we walked here. It is currently sliced by two roads (Kratylou and Monastiriou Streets) and it could have been better kept.
It's not an impressive sight for its natural beauty or landscaping (rather the opposite, with the help of Greek local authorities "branding" efforts - see picture below)

Greek branding at its best. Proper welcoming, at the Akadimia Platonos main entrance...

...but the mere historical significance of the place outweighs any management shortcomings. You will have bragging rights that you walked where Plato used to walk and teach his students!

People sitting at the grass. Ancient ruins scattered on the lawn.


We saw a few people jogging or, mostly, laying on the grass this hot Sunday afternoon. We saw signs of nightly drug use (syringes) in some lower-level, shady, bushy parts...

Some parts of the park are more shady (in every sense of the  word...). 

...but we didn't notice any alarming activity at this time of the day. Entrance is free and there are many entrances from surrounding streets.

The most important archeological ruins are in the northern, smaller, wedge-shaped lot, formed by Monastiriou and Kratylou/Drakontos streets. There, you'll see the ruins of Akademos' house and a "sacred house", under a large, metal roofing.

There are no explanatory signs in the grounds whatsoever, except for a small, almost hidden, metallic sign under the metal roofing covering Akademos' house. I've managed to stitch together a picture of this sign (see below).

The park is mostly flat but you have to walk or "run down" a rather steep plane at several points, if you want to take a better look at the ancient ruins, since most of them used to be buried underground and thus lay at a lower level than the current plane (about 3 meters - 10 feet, see picture above).

If you are interested in reading further about Plato and his Academy you can click the Amazon link here (we get a commission for any sale made through Amazon to help with the maintenance of this site).

Another interesting sight, since you'll be in the area, is the church of Aghios Tryfonas at the corner of Alexandreias and Marathonomachon Streets (southernmost section of the park). I don't have a story about it. It was just freshly painted, well-preserved and interesting looking architecturally (and totally kitschy at the same time!), with some modern... extensions creeping out of its windows.

St. Tryfon Church. These columns on the side entrance are really something! I wonder what material they were made of!

Right next to the urban bus stop (Bus 051) cutting through the park we saw a fenced lot, occupied by archaeologists, and full of archaeological ruins from the sight. These looked at least just as interesting as the ones in the grounds.

Depending on your level of interest (or ease of boredom...) you shouldn't need more than 1 hour to walk around the park and take a look at the area. Here's a suggestion for the hasty visitor (or young, power visitor) carrying only 1 back-pack (or for a group of visitors who can leave someone standing and look after the others' luggage):

If you are leaving Athens and are on your way to the Kifissos (inter-city) Bus Station you can take urban Bus 051 from 24 Zenonos St. (city center-seedy area) and get off at the Kratylou bus stop (3 stops before the end) at Akadimia Platonos.

Staying on your right hand side (in the bus's direction) you walk 50 meters on Kratylou St. and get into the park through the entrance on your right-hand side. The metal roofing with Akademos' house is hidden behind the trees on your right. You take a look at it and at some other scatterd ruins laying around for 10 minutes and then you go back to the bus-stop and take the next bus (with the same ticket) for the Kifissos Bus Station. Urban buses (051) run about every 10 minutes so you shouldn't have a problem. Allow some time though, in case one of the buses is full and cannot carry everyone and their luggage... In the extreme case, you may have to walk along Kratylou / Drakontos St. and reach the Kifissos Bus Station on foot (1200 meters, 3/4 of a mile).

If you have time (and are not carrying luggage) you can also visit another sight which is fairly nearby just like we did. You walk along Tripoleos Street to the north, through a typically dense, urban neighborhood, heading to the nearby Hill of Ippeion Colonou or Hippeios Colonus or simply Kolonos Hill (Lofos Kolonou).  According to ancient writings, Plato was buried somewhere between the Academy and Kolonos Hill.

The hill is most famous for ancient playwright Sophocles' play "Oedipus at Colonus", the middle play in a famous trilogy. Nowadays, there is an open-air, stone-made, modern amphitheatre which is mostly used for amateur, neighborhood-type productions (concerts or plays) or some... similar level professional ones (that's nasty! I should rather say... low-key, non-glam productions...). The space beneath the theater seemed to house a local scouting club. There is lush vegetation (pine trees, etc.) but as you walk up the top of the hill, which is flat, stone-paved and open, you get some very interesting views towards the hills of Lykavittos and Tourkovounia.

Entrance to Kolonos Hill

Amphiteatre, with view towards the Tourkovounia hills

Playground, at the top of Kolonos hill

There is a playground for younger children and what mostly stands out are the two fenced sculptures in honor of French archeologist Charles Lenormant and German scholar Karl Otfried Müller. Lenormant died during a visit to Athens in 1859, while accompanied by his son François who was also an archeologist, and his heart was buried here at the request of the Athens City Council. I've read that it was placed inside the marble, hydria (water jug)-shaped sculpture. Since 19th and 20th century Athenians showed so much respect to the sculpture that they used it as shooting target, thus destroying it, I don't know what happened to Lenormant's heart... The sculpture itself was replaced with a copy of the original in 1936 but there is still an iron fence around it for protection. Sad to see that some traditions are still kept is this country...

Sculptures on top of Kolonos Hill, in honor of Lenormant and Müller

As for the other of the two deceased, Müller, I find it quite ironic that he was buried here, since he became most famous for his love for Sparta... At least, he got to visit Sparta and other places in Peloponissos before his death. It might be comforting to him that, at least, ancient Colonus was not inside the borders of the ancient city of Athens! Lenormant has given his name to a main thoroughfare, connecting this neighborhood with the town center, near Karaiskaki Square and the Metaxourgeio Metro Station. The closest Metro Station to get back to is the one at Stathmos Larissis / Larissa Station (Red Line 2).

View OMIG-Akadimia Platonos in a larger map


Update: 2013-02-10: I recently went back to Plato's Academy: Click to read about an art exhibit that took place there and see some dusk photos.


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