Seven Kilometers
In search of the monuments: Seven Kilometers
The monuments in Athens exist in time and space layers. Some of them are well known and beautifully exhibited, others are emerging during the transformations of the modern city. Some are kept under the ground waiting to be uncovered by the future generations, and a few are being defined in our times to become the possible future monuments. I was observing and following these layers in the surroundings of Pireos street, a road that was initially drawn on the traces of the ancient Long Walls of Athens.
The need for a safe passage between the capital and its harbor led the Athenians to build the Long Walls, two parallel walls of seven kilometers long with a road between them. During the 19th century this strip of land became the site for the development of the heavy industries. Now that the industry is abandoning the area, parts of the old walls are emerging before disappearing again under the urban weeds and the modern walls of new buildings.
Following the route to the sea, the fortification walls of Piraeus coastline are similarly living within the tissues and the transitions of the modern city. Unexpected ephemeral beauty surrounded by an anarchic urban scenery
