Ελληνικό Δίκτυο ΦΙΛΟΙ της ΦΥΣΗΣ
INTRODUCTION
The Palimpsest landscape of Western Athens
Chariklia Chari
Western Athens consists of the
municipalities of Agia Varvara, Agioi
Anargyroi – Kamatero, Aigaleo, Ilion,
Peristeri, Petroupolis and Haidari. In
these cities the traces of antiquity, the
urban post-industrial character, the
fragile, fragmented landscape and the
particular urban ecosystems compose
a unique palimpsest. The Diomedes
Garden is both a botanical garden
and a place of executions. The Daphni
Monastery bridges three phases of
Greek history – from antiquity to
Byzantium to the Greek Revolution of
1821. Palataki used to house prominent
personalities and great painters.
Baroutadiko (literally: gunpowder
factory), an industrial compound, that
also housed refugees from Asia Minor
in the 1920s, is now an urban park.
Western Athens area spreads from
Kifissos River to Mount Aigaleo. It used
to be a place of stunning beauty, with
its huge olive grove covering a large
part of it until the beginning of the 20 th
century. It was sparsely populated, but
traces of human habitation are found
throughout the ages in the ancient
cities of Epikifissia, Ptelea, Lakiades,
Leukonoi and Holargos (see: Αμαλία
Διώτη, Αρχαίοι Δήμοι της Δυτικής
Αττικής). The settlements mainly
developed along the ancient Sacred
Way and Kifissos River.
Kifissos River, a source of life and sacred
in antiquity, is today invisible, flowing
for most of its length under Kifissos
Avenue. With the exceptions of Tritsis
Park, Vourkari and Koumoundourou
Lake, the element of water in Western
Athens is hidden, as most water arteries
that spring from Mount Aigaleo and
end up in Kifissos, are now mainly
covered and run underground, like the
Agios Vasilios gully in modern Peristeri,
the gullies of Vathi Rema, Fleva and
Kanapitseri in Ilion, and the Eupyrides
one in Ano Liosia and Kamatero. The
natural landscape is to be found in
only a few free-running creeks, like the
Ermos one in Haidari.
A very particular element of the area’s
palimpsest and significant part of
our material and immaterial cultural
heritage is the famed Sacred Way that
connected Athens to the sanctuary of
Eleusis, which for more than 2,500 years
follows the same route and ancient
parts of it are still visible today. Its role
as the main gateway to the city from
the west forms a continuous space-time
narrative: Ancient ruins of religious
monuments mainly connected to
the Eleusinian Procession, traces of
numerous cemeteries and burial
monuments on both sides, byzantine
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