Acropolis
Temple preview
The first decorations to strike your eye at the Acropolis Station are sculptures (casts) from the Parthenon. Mounted riders in carved relief from the temple’s north and west friezes stream along the platforms, while mythological figures from the east pediment (including Helios’ four horses, Dionysus, Demeter and Kore) adorn the ticket hall. A stratigraphic display of ancient “Road 1,” a wall-sized photograph of spilled artifacts from “Well 68,” along with displays of ancient pottery, children’s toys and weaving equipment all attest to the station-area’s past – first as a prehistoric/Iron Age cemetery, then as an Athenian neighborhood inhabited for nearly 2,000 years.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Evangelismos
Chryssa, Mott Street
The only artwork in the Athens metro not created in situ is the sculpture Mott Street by Chryssa (1933-2013). After studies in Paris and San Francisco, the Greek sculptress settled in New York, where she became internationally renowned. Like Stephen Antonakos, she was influenced by the city’s lights and neon signs, especially those filling Times Square. The work at the Evangelismos station draws its inspiration from Manhattan’s Chinatown and its unofficial main street.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Ambelokipi
Stephen Antonakos, Procession
Consider this… The Greek-American artist Mark Hadjipateras created an intriguing series of mosaics in the subway station at 28th Street in New York, while Stephen Antonakos (1926-2013), the Greek-American artist who grew up and lived in Manhattan, contributed an excellent work to the metro in Athens. Antonakos emigrated to the US with his family at age 4 and one of his most vivid memories from his village in the Peloponnese was the church lit up at night with candles. Influenced by this experience, and by his life in the Big Apple, he transformed those faint flickerings into dazzling neon, as anyone who views the display Procession in Ambelokipi station will see.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Syngrou - Fix
Takis, Light Signals & Photovoltaic Energy
In 2015, two major exhibitions were held in Paris and Houston, Texas to honor the pioneer sculptor Panagiotis “Takis” Vassilakis (born 1925), whose works are displayed in various places around the world – ranging from his own longtime place of residence, France’s City of Light, to Seoul, South Korea. In his birthplace of Athens, one can see his well-known creations at the National Sculpture Gallery in Goudi, as well as outside the Benaki Museum Annex on Pireos Street. Be sure to see his installations Light Signals and Photovoltaic Energy inside the Syngrou-Fix station, which draw their inspiration from traffic lights, lamps and bulbs.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Omonia
Pavlos, Football Players
Imagine a vast surface covered in places with adhesive that does not easily dry. Then… people flying over it, men from confetti… sticking… and revealing an entire scene. This is how the installation Football Players appears to have been created by the artist Pavlos Dionyssopoulos (born 1930) in Omonia station. Having lived in Paris and consorted with advocates of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, he discovered that what interested him most was not the brush, but the scissors. Using paper as his primary material, his works are as recognizable and they are endearing.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Omonia
Nikos Kessanlis, Queue
Nikos Kessanlis (1930-2004) came of age artistically in Rome and Paris during the restless years of the 1950s and 60s, absorbing all the shockwaves that dispelled The Old Ways in art. Though an artist with international reach, he devoted his entire energy to Greece, as a heretical voice, art activist and emblematic dean of the Athens School of Fine Arts. In the city’s most central spot, Omonia Square, silhouettes of men and women waiting in a Queue (the title of the installation) appear to mingle daily with the station’s thousands of passengers.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Monastiraki
A river runs through…
The charm of Monastiraki station begins outside, where the Church of the Pantanassa stands as the sole remnant of a 10th century monastery. Nearby, an opening in the pavement allows a bird’s-eye view down into the metro station, with its preserved antiquities. This was an area at the heart of ancient Athens, crossed by the Eridanos River. The age-old watercourse still flows through the station, where metro riders can see close-up its Roman-era, stone-built channel and vaulted cover. Large information panels illustrate the chronology and complex urban development revealed during the station’s excavation.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Egaleo
Rural industries revealed
The metro’s most extensive archaeological exhibition is located at Aigaleo. Seventeen display cases highlight the results of excavations at both Egaleo and Eleonas stations, which lie along the ancient Sacred Way linking Athens to the Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The cases line two hallways: one featuring a range of thematic displays and the other focusing on cemeteries. Info panels offer a comprehensive view of this industrial district, characterized in Classical-Hellenistic times by olive production, metal working, pottery making and weaving. Displays include a horse that drowned in a seasonal flood. Outside the Egaleo and Eleonas stations respectively are a preserved section of the sacred roadway and the piers of an ancient bridge.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Syntagma
George Zongolopoulos, Atrium
This is certainly one of Athens’ lesser-known, must-see sights. The installation titled Atrium, by George Zongolopoulos (1903-2004), in the city’s busiest station, Syntagma, reaching 20 meters in height and 8 meters in diameter, steals the show. The sculptor had a remarkable sense of space and always worked closely with architects. He produced this work at an advanced age, in 1999, using his trademark umbrellas as protagonists, together with elements of water and movement. Atrium represents the only work of art not purchased for the metro, as it was donated by the artist himself.

© Dimitris Vlaikos
Syntagma
Layers of history
One entire wall of Syntagma Station’s main hall is devoted to an enormous archaeological section illustrating the ancient site’s complex stratigraphy. Visible within this chronological layer cake are walls, drains, a roadway and a 4th century BC slab-lined tomb complete with a skeleton. Displayed nearby are artifacts ranging from clay oil lamps to wine amphoras, terracotta water pipes and a mosaic floor. Info panels describe investigations outside the station, which unearthed (among other things) a Roman bath and a section of Athens’ 6th century BC aqueduct. Additional displays at the Evangelismos, Panepistimiou and Daphne stations similarly remind us that everywhere beneath our feet lies rich Athenian history.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

Greece IsAthensExperienceCulture

Art in the Athens Underground

A brief tour of the antiquities and modern art that’s on display at the Athens metro.

John Leonard, Margarita Pournara | December 16th, 2015

Something we might take for granted these days, but shouldn’t, is the Athens metro. Anyone who remembers how difficult and tiring it once was to navigate through Athenian streets can tell you what an enormous, positive change the metro system has made to life here. The metro – even while still expanding its reach – has been praised by visitors as the best available in both Europe and America (“…from Boston to Budapest…”) for its efficiency, economy and ease. Moreover, the network offers numerous stations that contain unique archaeological mini-museums and modern art installations. These stations represent nodes of both transportation and enlightenment – where Greek culture past and present intersect for the appreciation of passersby.

Art in the Athens Underground

<h5>Acropolis</h5> — Acropolis
Temple preview
The first decorations to strike your eye at the Acropolis Station are sculptures (casts) from the Parthenon. Mounted riders in carved relief from the temple’s north and west friezes stream along the platforms, while mythological figures from the east pediment (including Helios’ four horses, Dionysus, Demeter and Kore) adorn the ticket hall. A stratigraphic display of ancient “Road 1,” a wall-sized photograph of spilled artifacts from “Well 68,” along with displays of ancient pottery, children’s toys and weaving equipment all attest to the station-area’s past – first as a prehistoric/Iron Age cemetery, then as an Athenian neighborhood inhabited for nearly 2,000 years.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Evangelismos</h5> — Evangelismos
Chryssa, Mott Street
The only artwork in the Athens metro not created in situ is the sculpture Mott Street by Chryssa (1933-2013). After studies in Paris and San Francisco, the Greek sculptress settled in New York, where she became internationally renowned. Like Stephen Antonakos, she was influenced by the city’s lights and neon signs, especially those filling Times Square. The work at the Evangelismos station draws its inspiration from Manhattan’s Chinatown and its unofficial main street.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Ambelokipi</h5> — Ambelokipi
Stephen Antonakos, Procession
Consider this… The Greek-American artist Mark Hadjipateras created an intriguing series of mosaics in the subway station at 28th Street in New York, while Stephen Antonakos (1926-2013), the Greek-American artist who grew up and lived in Manhattan, contributed an excellent work to the metro in Athens. Antonakos emigrated to the US with his family at age 4 and one of his most vivid memories from his village in the Peloponnese was the church lit up at night with candles. Influenced by this experience, and by his life in the Big Apple, he transformed those faint flickerings into dazzling neon, as anyone who views the display Procession in Ambelokipi station will see.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Syngrou - Fix</h5> — Syngrou - Fix
Takis, Light Signals & Photovoltaic Energy
In 2015, two major exhibitions were held in Paris and Houston, Texas to honor the pioneer sculptor Panagiotis “Takis” Vassilakis (born 1925), whose works are displayed in various places around the world – ranging from his own longtime place of residence, France’s City of Light, to Seoul, South Korea. In his birthplace of Athens, one can see his well-known creations at the National Sculpture Gallery in Goudi, as well as outside the Benaki Museum Annex on Pireos Street. Be sure to see his installations Light Signals and Photovoltaic Energy inside the Syngrou-Fix station, which draw their inspiration from traffic lights, lamps and bulbs.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Omonia</h5> — Omonia
Pavlos, Football Players
Imagine a vast surface covered in places with adhesive that does not easily dry. Then… people flying over it, men from confetti… sticking… and revealing an entire scene. This is how the installation Football Players appears to have been created by the artist Pavlos Dionyssopoulos (born 1930) in Omonia station. Having lived in Paris and consorted with advocates of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, he discovered that what interested him most was not the brush, but the scissors. Using paper as his primary material, his works are as recognizable and they are endearing.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Omonia</h5> — Omonia
Nikos Kessanlis, Queue
Nikos Kessanlis (1930-2004) came of age artistically in Rome and Paris during the restless years of the 1950s and 60s, absorbing all the shockwaves that dispelled The Old Ways in art. Though an artist with international reach, he devoted his entire energy to Greece, as a heretical voice, art activist and emblematic dean of the Athens School of Fine Arts. In the city’s most central spot, Omonia Square, silhouettes of men and women waiting in a Queue (the title of the installation) appear to mingle daily with the station’s thousands of passengers.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Monastiraki</h5> — Monastiraki
A river runs through…
The charm of Monastiraki station begins outside, where the Church of the Pantanassa stands as the sole remnant of a 10th century monastery. Nearby, an opening in the pavement allows a bird’s-eye view down into the metro station, with its preserved antiquities. This was an area at the heart of ancient Athens, crossed by the Eridanos River. The age-old watercourse still flows through the station, where metro riders can see close-up its Roman-era, stone-built channel and vaulted cover. Large information panels illustrate the chronology and complex urban development revealed during the station’s excavation.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Egaleo</h5> — Egaleo
Rural industries revealed
The metro’s most extensive archaeological exhibition is located at Aigaleo. Seventeen display cases highlight the results of excavations at both Egaleo and Eleonas stations, which lie along the ancient Sacred Way linking Athens to the Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The cases line two hallways: one featuring a range of thematic displays and the other focusing on cemeteries. Info panels offer a comprehensive view of this industrial district, characterized in Classical-Hellenistic times by olive production, metal working, pottery making and weaving. Displays include a horse that drowned in a seasonal flood. Outside the Egaleo and Eleonas stations respectively are a preserved section of the sacred roadway and the piers of an ancient bridge.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Syntagma</h5> — Syntagma
George Zongolopoulos, Atrium
This is certainly one of Athens’ lesser-known, must-see sights. The installation titled Atrium, by George Zongolopoulos (1903-2004), in the city’s busiest station, Syntagma, reaching 20 meters in height and 8 meters in diameter, steals the show. The sculptor had a remarkable sense of space and always worked closely with architects. He produced this work at an advanced age, in 1999, using his trademark umbrellas as protagonists, together with elements of water and movement. Atrium represents the only work of art not purchased for the metro, as it was donated by the artist himself.

© Dimitris Vlaikos

<h5>Syntagma</h5> — Syntagma
Layers of history
One entire wall of Syntagma Station’s main hall is devoted to an enormous archaeological section illustrating the ancient site’s complex stratigraphy. Visible within this chronological layer cake are walls, drains, a roadway and a 4th century BC slab-lined tomb complete with a skeleton. Displayed nearby are artifacts ranging from clay oil lamps to wine amphoras, terracotta water pipes and a mosaic floor. Info panels describe investigations outside the station, which unearthed (among other things) a Roman bath and a section of Athens’ 6th century BC aqueduct. Additional displays at the Evangelismos, Panepistimiou and Daphne stations similarly remind us that everywhere beneath our feet lies rich Athenian history.

© Dimitris Vlaikos