National Garden, Athens
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| Εθνικός Κήπος National Gardens | |
|---|---|
| Βασιλικός Κήπος Royal Gardens | |
 Interior view | |
  Location within central Athens | |
| Type | Public park |
| Location | Athens, Greece |
| Coordinates | 37°58′27″N 23°44′18″E / 37.97417°N 23.73833°E |
| Area | 15.5 hectares (38 acres) |
| Created | 1838 (184 years ago) |
| Operated by | City of Athens |
| Status | Open year round |
| Public transit access |      Syntagma Station |
The National Garden
History
The Royal Garden was commissioned by
A part of the upper garden, behind the Old Palace, was fenced off and was the private refuge of the King and Queen. The garden was open to the public in the afternoons.
Close to the garden in 1878 the neo-classical
The Royal Garden
The Royal Garden was the scene of an unusual turning point in Greek history. In 1920, at the end of
The National Garden
In the 1920s the park was opened to the public and renamed "National Garden". In honour of Amalia of Greece, the entrance was moved to the 12 palms she planted and the street in front was renamed Queen Amalia Avenue. Since then the National Garden, is open to the public from sunrise to sunset.
Henry Miller wrote in 1939:
It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looking at a canvas or dreaming of a place one would like to be in and never finds.[5]
In 2004 the Greek state gave the garden for 90 years to the city of Athens.
Ancient ruins
Inside the garden can be spotted ancient ruins, the vast majority of them are Roman. A Roman villa with a mosaic, large numbers of columns of all orders and sizes, structures connected with the Roman baths next to Zappeion and a large marble inscription about Ceaser Aelius ordered by Laius Aettius who was a Roman Legion staff officer from Epirus region and fought in battles against the Germanic tribes can be spotted. [6]
Services
The National Garden, is open to the public from sunrise to sunset. The main entrance is on Leoforos Amalias, the street named after the Queen who envisioned this park. You can also enter the garden from one of three other gates: the central one, on Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, another on Herodou Attikou Street and the third gate connects the National Garden with the Zappeion park area. In the National Garden there are a duck pond, a Botanical Museum, a small cafe and a Children's Library and playground.
Gallery
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The Royal Garden c. 1905 -
View of the entrance -
Monument to Lord Byron -
Statue of Ioannis Varvakis -
Antiquities within the National Garden -
Ponds in National Garden
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See also
- Greek gardens
- Landscape design history
References
- ^ "The National Garden". Athens Info Guide , 2004-2009. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ "The National Garden, Zappion, Panathenaic Stadium and the Temple of Olympian Zeus". Athens Survival Guide. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ "National Garden renamed". Magenta. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
- ^ Churchill, p. 409, quoted (for example) in Pentzopoulos, p. 39.
- ^ "National Gardens". Travel to Athens, Greece. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ Εθνικός Κηπος και Ιστορία (in Greek). Αθήνα. 2017. pp. 7 to 34.
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External links
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
