Today, Sunday, September 22, 2024, at 5:30 pm, the inauguration of the Acropolis Children’s Park will take place, in a celebration open to everyone!
The restoration and regeneration of the Acropolis Garden, abandoned for decades, right under the rock of the Acropolis, is the result of a long-term effort by the HELLENIC SOCIETY for Environment and Culture (ELLET). The historic olive grove has been cared for, preserved in its entirety and its clearings will be used to reopen a children’s playground and an open space for all ages – spaces that are lacking in the Plaka district, but also more broadly in the historic centre of Athens.
The garden served as a playground for children during the time of the A. Tritsis Municipal Council, with benches and some toys. Over time, the garden became deserted, the benches were half destroyed, the toys were removed, the trees and vegetation were also left to their fate, abandoned and covered in graffiti…
ELLET has been working towards this goal since 2012 (!), starting with a major awareness-raising campaign with several actions, including an event with the participation of Dionysis Savvopoulos and other artists in 2018. Our goal is to raise funds for the preparation of all necessary studies, which are awarded to a group of distinguished architects and engineers. The implementation of the project was generously financed by the Onassis Foundation.
ELLET’s aim was to highlight the main comparative advantage of the space: the Children’s Park is located in the historic olive grove of the Acropolis Garden, without disturbing the continuity of the space: Sacred Rock, chapel, Garden. It is a unique place, right below the Acropolis, which has been abandoned for years.
It has now been transformed into a place of relaxation for all ages. Children play carefully selected games and adults enjoy a space without tables or speakers, cars and machines, one of the few in Plaka.
The basic principles of the project are the selection of exclusively natural materials, which require minimal maintenance and complement the image of the olive grove that the garden has today, with attention paid to the views to and from the Acropolis. The chosen toys are from the pioneering German company Richter, whose chief designer Peter Heuken said that the days he spent working on the Acropolis Garden were among the most precious of his life.
Opening Ceremony
Sunday, September 22, 2024
PROGRAM
5:30 pm Games and parallel activities for children
– Planting of a botanical garden by the company Symbeeosis with the participation of local schools
– Fairy tale of the “Red Thread…”
7:00 p.m. Brief consecration
7:10 PM GREETINGS – WELCOME
– Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens
– Lydia Karras, Founder of the HELLENIC SOCIETY for Environment and Culture
– Antonis S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation
7:30pm The History of the Acropolis Garden Area, Artemis Skoubourdi
7:40 pm Traditional Music
8:00 pm Karagiozis presentation by the Charidimos Troupe
8:30 pm Traditional Music
(metro: Acropoli stop, Thrasyllou street, from Dionysiou Areopagitou)
