New lighting in Dionysiou Areopagitou Street by the Onassis Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens

The Onassis Foundation contemplates a city friendlier to its residents through a program of gentle interventions in neighborhoods, playgrounds, monuments, and buildings. Concurrently, it seeks to create an informal network that connects the neighborhoods of Athens, encouraging residents to discover their city anew and recompose the living narrative they shape daily. As part of this initiative, the Foundation maintains a close and consistent collaboration with the Municipality of Athens through the years. Therefore, the implementation of a series of projects that will further improve the city shall commence at the beginning of the new year.

New lighting, designed by Eleftheria Deko, will endow one of the most distinguishable walks in Athens, from the beginning of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street to the end of Apostolou Pavlou Street. The collaboration with the distinguished Greek lighting designer, who helmed the realization of the Acropolis’ night illumination in 2020 following a commission by the Onassis Foundation, is evident of the standards applied to the aesthetic and functional upgrading of the historic route. Through the eyes of Deko, light, in unison with the immediate setting, transforms one of the city’s most emblematic promenades, bequeathing an imprint that revitalizes public space.

The Onassis Foundation will further undertake the redevelopment of the area where Dionysiou Areopagitou Street reaches Amalias Avenue. This intervention’s hallmark will be the bronze sculpture bench of C. P. Cavafy, set to be installed between the Onassis Library and the Onassis Mandra, only a few meters away from the Cavafy Archive’s new building. Through this gesture, another landmark related to the Alexandrian poet is inserted into the urban fabric and in close proximity to the internationally lauded space that was inaugurated in November 2023. Likewise, Athens is honoring a seminal literary figure by joining a European tradition that includes, among others, Fernando Pessoa’s bench in Lisbon and the bronze statues of James Joyce in Trieste and Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen.

As stated by the President of the Onassis Foundation, Anthony S. Papadimitriou: “Upgrading the Athenian neighborhood with these interventions is our primary objective by enhancing everyday life in the most customary routes of the city. With this mindset, we are furthering the ‘Adopt Your City’ program, in partnership with the Municipality of Athens, scheduling similar interventions in other downtown neighborhoods that improve the quality of life, provide safe surroundings and ease of circulation, facilitate access to the road network, and strengthen the relationship of citizens with the public space. Within a city that reflects upon itself and explores, the Foundation reimagines its internal boundaries and activates communication among the neighborhoods. Those are the routes that inspire the Onassis Foundation and serve as a reminder that the city, in essence, amounts to the individual stories of its residents. These are the ones we want to listen to and, after all, cater to.”

The Mayor of Athens, Mr. Haris Doukas, added on the collaboration: “The famous pedestrian zone of Athens gains new lighting as created by the lauded lighting designer Eleftheria Deko. This is certainly an aesthetic and functional upgrade, with the support of the Onassis Foundation, that highlights the historic route and offers visitors and residents alike a novel public space experience with a view to the Acropolis Hill. In the coming period, a bronze sculpture bench dedicated to Alexandrian poet C. P. Cavafy will be further installed, completing the redevelopment of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street. We are upgrading the infrastructure of Athens, respecting its history and benefiting our citizens.”

Always with people at its core, the array of interventions by the Onassis Foundation unfolds with the objective of improving the Athenian neighborhood, expanding green spaces, and revitalizing the districts that host its buildings and activities. Further, similar works that improve the quality of life, provide safe surroundings and ease of circulation, facilitate access to the road network, and strengthen the relationship of citizens to the public space are foreseen in neighborhoods of downtown Athens.

These initiatives serve as a continuation and extension of the Onassis Foundation policy around the reconnection of the residents with their city and the expansion of green areas as a vital element in the daily life of the metropolis, especially in a period when ecological concerns are accentuated amid the climate crisis. These initiatives complement previous activities of the Foundation, such as the Acropolis Garden―Playground in Plaka, the new playground at Avdi Square in Metaxourgio, the complete renovation of the playground at Logginou Grove in Mets, the renovation of the playgrounds at the 39th Youth Center in Neos Kosmos (at the intersection of Sarkoudinou and Kasomouli Streets) and the 60th Youth Center (on Heldreich Street, in Dourgouti Park), among others.

Within a restless Athens that constantly reflects upon itself, explores, and evolves, the Onassis Foundation hosts the most interesting stories of its residents and interacts with them.