Parliament

What I can see

The emblematic building of the Greek parliament is one of the largest and oldest neoclassical buildings in the Balkans. It covers, together with its courtyards, an area of 6,950 square metres and is 25 metres tall. Out of respect for the legacy of ancient Athens and in light of the re-establishment of the principles of the urban classicism renaissance, Gaertner, who had also designed the royal palace of Munich and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, designed a solid and functional rectangular building that has access from all sides. It is characterized by strict symmetry, and has marble propylae with triglyphs and metopes on doric columns. The building has four external three-storey-high wings, a two-storey-high middle wing, as well as two courtyards, along with staircases connecting all floors. The two longer wings, (94.18 meters long and 15.50 metres wide) are connected vertically with the three shorter wings, thus forming two atriums. The facades are crowned with pediments, some with doric order colonnades and were designed according to an austere architectural concept.

What I can't see

The building hosted two successive royal dynasties: King Otto’s in the beginning and later, the dynasty of King George the 1^st. After several proposals on a possible location for the royal palaces, the small hill of Mpoumpounistra (or Analampi) was selected as the more eligible and the healthier and more strategic site. The hill was located on the eastern part of the area currently occupied by Syntagma Square, which was on the edge of the city at the time. A vast part of the peak of the hill was flattened in order to proceed with construction. During the construction period, the building was described as “resembling a barrack” (E. Αbout) and is in fact a solid, simple construction compared to other palaces along Europe. There was good reason however, for Gaertner’s approach. Firstly, the funds allocated for its construction by the newly-established Greek State were quite limited and certainly could not support extravagance. Also, the architect envisaged a monumental form that would suggest a centre of authoritative State power over the citizens. Almost one hundred years after its construction and its use as a military hospital and to accommodate urgent state needs, such as the sheltering of Asia Minor refugees, it was converted in order to house the Greek Parliament and the Greek Senate by the architect Andreas Kriezis. Currently, it is used as the headquarters of the Parliament of the Greek State.

Info

• Address: Amalias Av. and V. Sofias Av.

Bibliography