Greek sculpture in the Zappeion Garden ...past, present, future...

The Zappeion Garden constitutes a historical site, full of memories from the first years of Athens as the Greek state’s capital. In its beautiful grounds there are important monuments of Modern Greek sculpture, loaded with history and symbolisms, with an intense presence and a variety, representative as well as didactic. Typologically, almost all kinds are represented: statues, riding statues, statues in relation to a building, free composition, busts, and memorial compositions. Concerning theme coverage, a quite wide range is present: benefactors, philhellenes, intellectuals, poets, politicians, decorative sculptures. These are all works of the greatest Greek sculptors, such as Drosis, Kossos, Vroutos, G. Dimitriadis, Doukas, Filippotis, Tombros, K. Dimitriadis, and N. Mela. At the same time, they are works that express the evolution of Art, as well as its main currents: classicism, realism, romanticism, academism, modernism. During the Olympic Games, and in the framework of the ATHENS BY ART project, a place was found for contemporary art as well – the work of TAKIS.

For all the above reasons, the Zappeion Garden is the most appropriate corner of the city to familiarize one with our sculpture art; therefore, the younger residents may notice the value of the sculptures as witnesses of our history and civilization and the necessity to protect them as well. Sculptures, like anything comprised by matter, are subject to time and environmental decay. Although they were scientifically preserved in 1998, their state today simply affirms the opinion that preservation is a process that must occur repeatedly.

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