National Gardens

Today:

The National Gardens are the largest in area and richest in vegetation gardens in Athens. It has six lakes of various sizes, beautiful pergolas, a big sun clock and various tasteful small buildings.

Name:

The gardens were named Royal Gardens until 1917 when King Konstantinos quit his post and since 1927 took the current name of National Gardens.

History:

1839: The landscaping of the National Gardens begins and progresses along with the constuction of the Palace. A huge amount of money was spent on expropriations, digging and purchases of rare varieties of flowers from abroad. Queen Olga took part herslef in the planting of the trees and vegetation. She even established a special committee and recalled the Bavarian agronomist Smarat.

In a period that Athens was a big village and the majority of the population starved, the spending by Queen Amalia for the gardens was a provocation for the people and led to protests. The biggest issue was the large quantities of water needed for irrigation, that the Athenians were deprived of. The water circulation was cut off to the population during the watering hours.

In any case, the capital acquired a botanical garden to be proud of, a green oasis that for decades offered a peaceful and relaxing shelter to the Athenians.

1954: An open air theatre functions for a decade inside the National Gardens. Many impressive theatrical plays with distinguished actors were produced there.