Εφήμερη και αιώνια Αθήνα [Ephemeral and eternal Athens]

Professor emeritus of the National Technical University of Athens, author-architect Dimitris Filippidis casts a penetrating gaze on the external image and inner reality of the most metropolitan of Greek cities, Athens. The archival and photographic material of the 19th and 20th centuries, official or personal, published but also hitherto unpublished, outlines the city's evolution and gradual transformation. Furthermore, the author's personal photographs reveal his own viewpoint and compose a kaleidoscope of images and instants of everyday Athenian life, portrayed not as unbearable or inhospitable, but rather as a vibrant field of human cohabitation and positive interactions.
Thus, while Athens in the 19th century functions and grows as a town of moderate dimensions, whose characteristics are its sense of proportion and its small, inhabitant-friendly scale, gradually, and especially during the second half of the 20th century, the elements of rapid change and temporary constructions compose a cascade of images and spatial transformation. Henceforth, a constant mutation of the Athenian landscape becomes the dominant factor, with diverse architectural trends, which sometimes are expressed through mass, uniform solutions and at other times bring forth the particular aesthetics of private or public buildings, classical, modern or even traditional. Finally, the almighty human factor often opts in favour of the necessary and the easy-to-use, without necessarily including a sense of proportion, of beauty or of architectural continuity.