Onassis Mandra

Next to the Onassis Library on Amalias Avenue, on the pedestrian street of Dionisiou Areopagitou at No. 2, the Mandra functions as an active hive of culture and expression. There, you can find the most representative example of open-air theater architecture from the Belle Époque in Athens: an outdoor theater stage from 1909 that belongs to the typology of the ‘mandra’ theater, i.e., a theater with a rudimentary square configuration and an Italian-type stage. The old Athenians referred to the space as 'Athinaikon,' ‘Hadrian’s Gate Theater,' and 'Germaniko,' after the popular German operettas of the time.