Athens: From Statue to Statue

The statues of Athens look lovely – virtually pristine, virtually new – within the optimistic morning gentle. They stand silhouetted in opposition to the acclaimed blue sky of Greece and framed by the inexperienced vegetation surrounding them, greener nonetheless now within the days simply earlier than summer season begins. It’s as in the event that they’re about to ask you on a stroll, even when they don’t take you by the hand. They stand nonetheless and, for probably the most half (let’s be trustworthy: not all of them), provide aesthetic solace formed by the social and political mores of the time they have been made, and by those who adopted. They convey messages even whereas concurrently embodying meanings completely different from these their creators supposed to transmit. On this approach, they’ve each a non-public and a public life. 

With all this in thoughts, I’m pondering of taking an extended stroll now, whereas the warmth isn’t but insufferable, stopping at a few of the most iconic statues, sculptures and monuments within the metropolis’s public areas. However I don’t need to omit the others, both, ones that function landmarks, or sparked discussions of their time, or proceed to court docket controversy or, conversely, maintain a particular place in our hearts.

Andriantes and runners

The primary statues positioned in fashionable Athens, or to be extra exact, within the metropolis that emerged after the delivery of the Greek state, have been of “nice males.” For a lot of causes, these statues proceed to dominate numerically when it comes to social illustration. Among the many components that make them so dominant is their placement in key areas, making it inconceivable for the eyes of passersby or guests to keep away from them; their measurement; and, in fact, the truth that increasingly more of them have appeared over time. Finding out how the town started erecting such statues (or “andriantes,” from the Greek phrases for “bravery” and “man”) is of deep political, social and feminist curiosity. Having mentioned that, most of those statues depart me aesthetically detached. Nevertheless, there may be one which stands out to me. 

The bronze statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis by Lazaros Sochos was created within the late nineteenth century. Disciples of city (and nationalistic) mythology declare that his outstretched proper hand isn’t displaying the best way to his followers, however moderately pointing in the direction of Constantinople. Though not the town’s hottest statue, it’s lovely. Positioned in entrance of the Previous Parliament in a small sq. with benches and flowerbeds, close to bus stops and near giant resorts, business retailers and bars, it has change into a de facto a part of our day by day lives.

Nevertheless, after I requested round to gauge which was “probably the most beloved statue of Athenians,” the winner by a big margin was Kostas Varotsos’ “Dromeas” (The Runner). I keep in mind it adorning Omonia Sq. way back to the late Eighties, and I additionally keep in mind its painstaking relocation, pane by glass pane, greater than twenty years in the past to the inexperienced island – not a sq., in my view – of the Nice College of the Nation on Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, reverse the Hilton and the Nationwide Gallery. It’s poetically fascinating that, virtually in its shadow, there now stands a 1,500-year-old olive tree which continues to bear fruit; it’s as if these two entities are in dialogue with one another. The relocation of the statue have to be thought of successful; its new residence solely strengthened its presence within the on a regular basis lives of Athenians.

The Dromeas was additionally one of many metropolis’s sculptures that stood out to Mariza Anifanti, an archaeologist and licensed tour information, after I requested her to decide on her favorites. “At night time, the reflection of the bogus lights on its glass floor abolishes the statue’s stillness. You are feeling as whether it is transferring, past human endurance, past time.” 

The reality is that the night time touches all statues with tenderness, giving them a particular attraction, both by over-illuminating or half-concealing them. It makes them appear as in the event that they certainly have a secret life – inside themselves and amongst one another. And people who gaze upon them is perhaps reminded of folks tales, myths and legends from all over the world about individuals who “turned to stone.” There are additionally statues that may scare you; the Charioteer (positioned within the Archaeological Museum of Delphi) at all times frightens me.

I occurred to develop up in a home with many statues of varied sizes, as my uncle labored within the “casts” division of the Nationwide Archaeological Museum, the place precise and formally licensed replicas of sculptures have been made. Though walks by way of the halls of what’s now my favourite museum left me moderately detached on the time, the plaster reliefs of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the marble Pericles and the heads of Hygieia scattered round our personal lounge have been a part of my life and, in my childhood creativeness, conversed with my Playmobile figures. Nevertheless, the hole gray-green steel Charioteer copy that we had scared me, with its gaze fastened on one thing I couldn’t see, its disproportionately sized torso, and its lacking arm. In my thoughts, it was nothing greater than a satanic doll which, I feared, would come to life and kill me within the night time.

Sculptures that provoke

Simply as the town was constructed haphazardly regardless of efforts at central planning, plainly the statues have been positioned inside it in the same method. Not all of them are commissioned works and nor do they serve a central, nationwide or different narrative by way of sculpture. Most of the works we admire have been accepted as items by the Municipality of Athens. There are additionally recorded cases the place subsequent metropolis officers overturned the insurance policies – or moderately the choices – of their predecessors, both on account of completely different tastes or “on the demand of the residents” when sure sculptures displeased some Athenians on account of their “ugliness” or perceived “failure.” A few of these have been rescued by the passage of time.

The Dromeas, which so many now like a lot, was as soon as accused of “fascist aesthetics,” whereas virtually each – sure, each – try and create a statue honoring a lady of great significance on this nation, whether or not Melina Mercouri, Elli Lambeti, Maria Callas or Aliki Vougiouklaki, is routinely deemed by observers (and non-observers!) of public artwork as a failure. The bust of Vougiouklaki, a piece by Vassilis Dionysopoulos that stands in Mavili Sq., has suffered repeated injury and has been eliminated for restore quite a few instances.

Probably the most universally hated sculpture within the metropolis, nonetheless, is none aside from the much-abused bronze statue of President Harry S. Truman by Felix W. de Weldon, created within the Nineteen Sixties. It stands, on an elevated platform, simply above Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, just a few hundred meters from the Panathenaic Stadium. For years, it was a favourite goal of vandals, particularly throughout the years when anti-American sentiment was excessive, and practically all protests would finish on the American embassy additional up the street. Lately, issues have calmed down.

Near this statue of the thirty third President of the US now stands the statue of one other international chief who exercised world affect, Mahatma Gandhi, erected three years in the past. It’s positioned in entrance of the Indian embassy (on Kleanthous Road), which donated it to the town. Relating to vandalism, in fact – one thing to maintain the town’s conservators busy – it must be talked about that even highly regarded statues, or at the very least extra in style, extra “politically harmless” and (let’s be trustworthy) extra lovely than Truman’s, haven’t escaped vandals who wished to “have a creative dialog” with them. Northern Epirus (1951) by Kostas Seferlis, which impressed Kiki Dimoula to write down the poem Level of Recognition, was defaced with vivid paint earlier than being mutilated and beheaded.

I fell in love with a statue

My favourite sculpture is the Monument of Nationwide Reconciliation, a piece from 1987 by Vasilis Doropoulos, standing in Klafthmonos Sq.. Though it was supposed to have an overt political which means, I’ve at all times been extra impressed by its measurement, line and androgynous physicality. The marble Eros the Archer by Georgios Vroutos, a piece from 1896, stands on the different finish of the size size-wise and emerges like a cherub from the tall shrubs of the Zappeion. Through the day, it appears innocence personified, however at night time it has served as a witness and a landmark for fleeting romantic adventures.

In Plaka, within the period previous GPS expertise, the get-your-bearings landmark par excellence throughout meandering walks was the Monument of Lysicrates (4th century BC). In fact, nonetheless, regardless of its sculptural, three-dimensional and reduction decorations, it’s not precisely a statue. However let’s return to the Zappeion space. Reverse the Panathenaic Stadium stands the Discobolus (Discus Thrower), with which Konstantinos Dimitriadis received the gold medal in sculpture on the 1924 Olympic Video games in Paris.

Once I point out first the Sleeping Feminine Determine by famed Greek sculptor Yannoulis Chalepas, positioned within the First Cemetery of Athens, after which the Philopappos Monument to Mariza Anifanti, she says that she places them in a unique class from the town’s different out of doors sculptures. “The Sleeping Feminine Determine is certainly a statue, however on the identical time, it is usually a funerary monument, defining the reminiscence of a deceased individual, simply as a cross would.” The identical might be mentioned of the Philopappos Monument, however it doesn’t matter what class we put it in, what stays of this monument – relationship from the early 2nd century AD and constructed as a mausoleum – has helped decide, on account of its measurement, its sculptural ornament and its outstanding location excessive on Filopappou Hill, the best way we as residents of this metropolis join with sculpture on the whole.

The beloved Caryatids, not these of the Acropolis, however these adorning the balcony of the attractive home at 45 Aghion Asomaton Road, are usually not thought of to be statues, as they don’t seem to be freestanding, however moderately, a part of an architectural construction. What’s extra, regardless that they have been initially created for public view, when constructed they have been a part of a non-public residence, which now belongs to the Ministry of Tradition. This residence gained a outstanding significance for a era or extra of Athenians, because it was not solely photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson and painted by Yannis Tsarouchis, but it surely was additionally the constructing that novelist Costas Taktsis selected as a residence for his character Ekavi from his e book The Third Wedding ceremony.

What number of statues are there in Greece?

The reply to the query “What number of statues (it could be extra correct to consult with them as out of doors sculptures) exist in Athens?” is a puzzle. It’s all a matter of definition, which relies upon, firstly, on whether or not you’re speaking about downtown Athens solely, the municipality as an entire, or if we open it as much as embody close by suburbs. As an illustration, isn’t George Zongolopoulos’ Umbrellas at Faros in Psychikou a sculpture and a landmark within the on a regular basis lives of Athenians who cross it on Kifissias Avenue? After which, even when we resolve the geographical difficulty, others emerge. How public are, for instance, the monuments and sculptures resting across the marble workshops on Anapafseos Road? What’s extra, out of doors artwork isn’t the one public artwork. As an illustration, that class doesn’t embody the works of great modern visible artists – Takis, Costas Tsoclis and Chrysa – adorning the coated areas in metro stations, nor the works within the underground sculpture gallery displaying archaeological finds on the Acropolis metro station.

As if all this wasn’t sufficient, typically the boundaries between private and non-private are blurred. That is the case with the Caryatids of Aghion Asomaton Road, as effectively for works in private and non-private areas inaccessible to these with no cause for being there, such because the grounds of many hospitals or the primary workplaces of the Piraeus Financial institution at 4 Amerikis Road, whose home windows look out onto Fernando Botero’s The Abduction of Europe.

Nonetheless, there’s definitely loads of statuary to see within the metropolis, and should you’re not already overwhelmed by the various examples on our stroll, you’ll discover many extra sculptures at the Nationwide Glyptotheque in Goudi Park, each within the open air and on show in indoor areas (tickets crucial for the latter). 

This text was beforehand revealed in Greek at kathimerini.gr.