Miaouli Square

Miaouli Square is a beautiful square, paved with marble, it has palm trees all around, many coffeehouses and stores and an imposing Town Hall in the background. In the center of the square there is a statue of Admiral Miaoulis and on the right you can see the marble podium of the Ermoupoli Symphony Orchestra which carries relief representations of god Apollo and the Muses, created by sculptor Ioannis Vitalis, completed in 1907.

This place was once an orchard garden, bought in 1847 by the Municipality of Ermoupoli and finally turned into a square following the architectural designs of Weiler. Since 1876 and on, after the Town Hall was erected, the square gradually takes its final form. Many important historical events have taken place here: On October 1862, the citizens of Ermoupoli had gathered there to hear about the expulsion of king Otto, in 1912, they welcomed Eleftherios Venizelos and on September 8th, in 1943, this was the place were they were informed about the armistice between Italy and the Allies. The square was named after king Otto, till his expulsion in 1862. It was then given the name of Nikolaos Leotsakos, the officer of the military guard of Ermoupoli, who had tried to liberate the political prisoners in Kythnos Island.

In 1889, after the unveiling ceremony of the commemorative bust in honour of Andreas Miaoulis, admiral-in-chief of the Greek navy in the Greek War of Independence, the square had finally been given its current name. In the garden of the Municipal Library, you can see the busts of Emmanouil Roidis, Gheorghios Souris, Dimitrios Vikelas, Timotheos Ambelas and Rita Boumi-Pappa.