What I can see

This is a 2.5-metre-high marble statue of the revolutionary and poet Rigas Pheraeos. His head is turned slightly to the left, his left hand is placed on his chest and the right points symbolically to freedom. The right foot is outside the podium. A broken chain symbolizes freedom. It belongs to the honorary sculptures and its classicist style serves this purpose.

What I can't see

It is the first statue erected in Athens after it became capital of Greece. It is listed as protected in situ, just as the remaining sculptures of the so-called Trilogy. The real name of Rigas Pheraeos was Rigas Velestinlis, after Velestino, a region in Thessaly, which is why he would also sometimes sign under the name Rigas Thessalos (the name Pheraeos was probably given to him after his death). He was one of the greatest Greek Enlightenment scholars, who through his works –”Thourio” in particular– inspired the Greek Revolution. Rigas envisioned the liberation of the entire Balkans from Ottoman rule, the respect for ethnological pluralism and the diffusion of European ideals into Greece. He was arrested in Trieste in 1797 by the Austrians, who in 1798 handed him over to Ottoman authorities, who tortured him to death.

Info

• Address: 30 Panepistimiou/ El. Venizelou St.

Bibliography