Monastiraki Metro Station

What I can see

The impressive entrance of the Monastiraki Metro station is a very bright neoclassical building with lots of arched openings. To the left, located at the ceiling above the entrance to Line 3, we can see the impressive work “time on my hands,” by Leda Papaconstantinou. While the design of Line 3 is modest, the construction nevertheless led to significant excavations that revealed a number of antiquities. Among the excavated findings we see a part of the river Heridanus (or stream of Kaissariani, according to another scientific view), which was the key region, around which private activity developed in antiquity. The display area is 300 s.qm. big, and a 24m glass footbridge crosses the findings vertically. For better protection of the terrain and the antiquities, the tunnel’s walls needed to be doubled. Unlike Line 3, the platforms of Line 1 have ornated metal columns, sheltered seating areas and signs that take us back in time.

What I can't see

The station was built in the late 19th-century as an extension of the line Piraeus-Athens, which reached up to the station of “Thissio”. Trains were originally steam- driven, but were later electrified. The recent refurbishment of the station was done due to the extension of Line 3. The construction of this line revealed other findings, beyond Heridanus and its surrounding buildings. Numerous objects such as architectural elements, mosaics, frescoes, vases, coins and other objects from the Geometric period (8th century BC) to the 19th-century AD were found.

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