Creating Modern Athens ─ A Capital Between East and West

This book explores the development of the city of Athens after the Greek War of Independence. It presents the process of creation of a neo-classical capital, in the place of a pre-existing town with the remains of a long history. The book examines the treatment of the pre-revolutionary town, its connection with the neo-classical city, the position of old churches in this antiquity-centered capital, and the factors that influenced the implementation of the projects for the new capital and their consequences on the city’s evolution. The book presents the passage from the grandiose plans of a European metropolis to a modest peripheral capital of a dual Eastern and Western character. All this will be placed in its European context, explaining how Athens was trying to emulate the great European capitals, since Western Europe was the Greek State’s model.

Denis Roubien is Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, in the Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece. His research field is the architecture and urban planning of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century in Greece, as well as the restoration of historical buildings and revival of historical centres. He has written several articles and a chapter in a book on these subjects.