National Garden

What I can see

The National Garden (ex-Royal Garden- of the former palace), is an oasis of calmness in the bustling city, ideal for walking, jogging and relaxing. It is a garden with a huge variety of plants and occupies an area of about 160 acres. It houses over 500 different species of plants and trees (7,000 trees and 40,000 shrubs and herbs). It has 7 entrances and its design was based in the English style, unlike the garden of the new palace (now the Presidential Palace), which has a French style. It also contains 6 ponds, pergolas, sundial, botanic museum, children’s library, cafe, playground and a former small zoo, which was built during George I reign. Also, in the National Garden, there are five marble busts of Ioannis Gabriel Eynard (Ioannis Kossos), Spyridon Samaras (Michalis Tompros), Dionysios Solomos (Thomas Thomopoulos), Ioannis Kapodistrias (Ioannis Kossos), Aristotelis Valaoritis (Fokion Rok) and one bronze of Jean Morea (Emile Antoine Bourdelle).

What I can't see

Queen Amalia had undertaken personally the care of the garden and worked constantly for the same. The area was bare and rocky, which made it difficult for the garden to be landscaped. It was designed by the English garden architect Landers (others mention Koch) and the French agriculturist François Louis Barreau was the caretaker. They worked on this the Bavarian agronomist Smarat and Prussian gardener Schmidt, while later others succeeded them. As the plant species were increasing, the more the garden was becoming famous worldwide. Moreover, there were many foreign leaders and emperors, who made donations of different kinds. Among them was even the Sultan. Representative trees of the garden were palm trees, and for their shipping they used warships. Until the garden obtained sufficient water supply, the Athenians rebelled, because every time the garden was watered, the residents had no water at all. There was a general dissatisfaction with the large gardens, because in addition to the unbearable cost for the citizens, they were not allowed to enter, as they were closed to the public and only few “selected people” were allowed to enter. Many travelers and antiquities enthusiasts preferred the simple, bare and rocky Attic landscape, while others supported an aesthetic coexistence of antiquities and greenery. The construction of a royal garden with foreign plants, mimicking those of northern Europe, was considered xenomania. Greeks were familiar only with fruit trees, which they had in their home gardens. Any trees and plants that were not fruit-bearing were considered useless and were “exiled” to the forests. Indeed, the foreign an exotic plant species of the National Garden significantly disturbed the local flora and fauna. From 1900 until 1917 or 1923 (sources are not clear), however, the garden opened  to the public on specific days and hours, after which it began opening to the public daily from sunrise to sunset, as it still does today.

Info

• Address: Amalias Avenue, V. Sofias Avenue, Herodou Atticou, V. Olgas St.

Bibliography