Piraeus (Ancient Greek: Πειραιεύς) is a city with its own
peripheral urban area, and the seat of the most important port in
Greece. The Municipality of Piraeus, according to the 2011 Census
has an area of 10.9 sq. km and a population of 163,688 inhabitants
(which makes it the fifth largest municipality in the country after
the implementation of the "Kallikratis" program).
The wider
area of Piraeus constitutes the Peripheral Unit of Piraeus, which
consists of the homonymous municipality and four more municipalities
(Nikaia-Agios Ioannis Rentis, Korydallos, Keratsini-Drapetsonas and
Perama), with a total population of 44.4 and 99.99. km Occupies the
southwestern part of the Capital Region.
The center of Piraeus is about 10
km from the center of Athens, which is a historic port.
Piraeus in modern times is an important industrial and commercial
center of the country, being the largest passenger port in Europe,
connecting the capital with the Aegean islands and being an
important destination for cruise ships within the Mediterranean.
Tunnel or Tunnel or Cave of Paraskevas: Natural cave with underground
constructions in rocks located behind the "Votsalakia" beach. This cave
is said to have been sacred, it is believed that it was dedicated to the
local hero Sirangos and that later it was also used as an "Asclepion"
and a "Porphyreion" and as a bathhouse (Ballaneion), while it has many
underground apartments.
Cave of Aretousa, on the hill of Kastella.
Koumoundourou Island, between Mikrolimanos and the port of Zea (formerly
Pasalimani).
Maritime Museum of Greece: Total area approximately 1850
sq.m. It is located in the area of Freattyda on the Themistokleous
Coast. It is the largest Naval Museum in Greece and presents the history
and development of the Greek Navy from prehistoric times to the present
day.
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus: Total area 1394 sq.m. It is
located in the area between Terpsithea and Pasalimanio. It presents a
complete picture of the history of the city from antiquity to the
present day, hosting the most important historical exhibits.
Hetionia: The peninsula of Hetionia with the ancient fortress is located
on the northwest side of the central port of Piraeus. It was the first
cove to the left of the entrance to the central port of Piraeus as well
as the ledge of the coast that formed it.
Aikaterini Laskaridis
Foundation: The Foundation's new building has been located since 2009 at
the junction of 2nd Merarchias 36 & Aktis Moutsopoulos streets. The
building is known as Megaro Strigou, where the branch of the French
Institute in Piraeus was housed. The Foundation is constantly evolving
and has a prominent and regulatory presence in the intellectual life of
our country with the aim of promoting Greek culture, Greek letters and
historical and maritime research.
Electric Railway Museum: Located
inside the Piraeus railway station at the port.
Museum of Painting
and Scenography of Panos Aravantinos: It is located inside the Municipal
Theatre.
Piraeus Municipal Art Gallery: In the Art Gallery there are
important works by Maleas, Volanakis, Lytra, Lazaris, Byzantios,
Geralis, Kokotsis, etc., while there is also a large collection of 80
sculptures by Kastriotis.
Patsiadou House (1894-1895) in Alexandra Square, work of Ernestos
Ziller.
House Spyridonos Metaxas (1899) to Vasileos Georgiou I and
Grigoriou Lambrakis, work by Ernestos Ziller.
Frantzis House (1880),
in Bouboulinas and Kountouriotou.
Mansion at 48 Iroon Polytechniou
Avenue (around 1930), the work of the architect Vasilios Tsagris.
"Megaro Kanetti", at Iroon Polytechniou Avenue & Sotiros Dios Avenue.
Municipal theatre
The Municipal Theater of Piraeus is located in
the center of the city and was built according to the plans of the
architect and professor of E.M. Polytechnic of Ioannis Lazarimou, while
its construction lasted from 1884 to 1895 and had dimensions of 34 x 45
m. The most famous Greek troupes, the National Theater of Greece, the
National Opera, etc., appeared at the Municipal Theater from time to
time. For a very long time, the Municipal Library of Piraeus as well as
the Municipal Art Gallery of Piraeus were hosted in various auxiliary
spaces.
Veakio Theatre
The Veakeio Municipal Theater, formerly
Skylitsio, is located on the hill of Kastella (Profiti Ilias) and has
the form of an ancient theater. Veakeio was built and started operating
in 1969 during the mayorship of Aristides-Alexandros Skylitsis, whose
grandfather Aristides Skylitsis the Elder (also mayor of Piraeus) bore
the name. In 1976 it was renamed "Veakio" in honor of the great actor
Emilios Veakis, who was born in Piraeus. The theater has a capacity of
about 2000 spectators and many performances and cultural events are
organized in it during the summer months.
Menandrio Theater
The Menandreio Municipal Theater (former Dolphinarium) is a summer
theater of the solvable type, in the form of an ancient theater, a copy
of the one that existed in the former Royal and now National Garden. It
is located in the area of Neos Faliros, near the Stadium of Peace and
Friendship. It mainly presents "inspections" by large troupes in the
summer months and has a capacity of 1,000 people.
Other theaters
Until the 1970s in Piraeus there was also the "Ancient Theater" where
Dora Stratou gave performances, the "Piraeus Theater" of the
municipality of Piraeus (summer) which was also rebuilt by Skylitsis and
which was later demolished and a small theater was built in its place
park (opposite YEN), the Pallas theater (winter), the Piraeus
Association theater (winter), the Christian theater of Life (also
winter), as well as other theater stages of major schools (Plato, French
School, etc. ) and some cinemas (e.g. Atticon, Olympia, etc.)
In Piraeus there is a significant number of holy temples, the largest
of which are:
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
I.N. of Agios
Spyridon ([patron) historical church
I.N. Saint Nicola's
I.N.
Agios Vasilios
I.N. Evangelist
I.N. Saints Constantine and Helen
I.N. Agios Dionysios
I.N. Saint Nile
I.N. Saint Sofia's
I.N.
Saint Paraskevi
According to Strabo and modern geological studies, Piraeus was
once an island that joined Attica after the deposits of Kifisos and
other streams in the area.
According to Suidas, it was an
island during the Quaternary period of history, while proto-Hellenic
life in the area appears around 3000 BC. The area of Piraeus seems
to have been inhabited since the Neolithic period. Later in the
fifth century BC the area was chosen as the new port of the Athenian
city-state gradually replacing the old port of Athens Faliro, it was
declared a municipality, specifically one of the municipalities of
the Asteos of ancient Athens, starting the construction of the
fortifications of the three ports and the settlement. The Long Walls
connected Piraeus with Athens through a corridor that ran across the
plain, from the Epineum to the walling of Asteos. The city was
organized based on Hippodamus' plan. It reached its greatest peak in
the classical period. With the conquest of Athens by the Romans
there followed a long period of decline where Piraeus was deserted
at times, reaching until the 19th century and the transfer of the
capital of the then newly formed Greek state to Athens in 1834, when
the area was repopulated and a period of development began, with the
gradual increase of its population and its even urban planning based
on the system applied by Hippodamus the Milesian in the planning of
ancient Piraeus, which is a model of urban planning to this day.
Piraeus was proposed in 1832 by Gutenzon, architect to Louis I
of Bavaria, as the capital of Greece which would gradually expand
towards Athens, but eventually the reverse happened after Athens was
chosen as the capital and Piraeus was later incorporated into the
capital region. .
Direct sources for the study of the history
and topography of Piraeus are the various inscriptions, findings of
ancient tombs, foundations of temples, new houses, buildings and
walls and ancient port works, always combined with the excerpts of
ancient authors who refer to Piraeus, the most important of which
were the: Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle, Plutarch, Isocrates,
Plato, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Herodotus and Polydeuces. But the
oldest of them, Diodorus the traveler (4th century BC) was the one
who first wrote about Attica, followed by Heliodorus who wrote a
work of 15 books about the monuments of Athens.
From ancient times to the present, the names it has received from
time to time are in order:
"Piraeus" (ancient times and last
official name).
"Piraeus" (Stephanos the Byzantine and modern
elementary school).
"Piraeus", "Peraias", or "Peraias", (by
vernacular names). Also in texts of the previous century are found:
"Piraeus", or "Piraeus", even "Piraeus", "Piraeus", "Piraeus" and
"Pereas" or "Pereas". In all the cases where the ending was
stressed, it was indented.
"Port of Piraeus" or simply "Limin"
(ancient times - latest archaeological view).
"Kantaros" or
"Limin Kantharos" (ancient times).
"Deaf port" (after the
Peloponnesian war - last archaeological view).
"Port of Athens".
"Athenarum portus" in the Roman period. 'Porto dei Setine', 'Portus
de Sithines' or simply 'Sithines' in the Middle Ages.
"Port of
Leo" or better known "Porto Leone", which is also its international
name on nautical charts. Correspondingly "Aslan port" (Port of the
lion in the Turkish language) before and during 1821. From the time
of the war against the Macedonians, when the Piraeus led by the
Athenian general Leosthenes fell into battle to save the prestige of
Athens , a large marble lion similar to those of Chaeronea and
Amphipolis was erected as a cenotaph on the road to Athens, which
was the talking symbol of the Piraeus and their leader, who showed
the strength of a lion (Leosthenes). The marble lion was moved from
its original location probably during the Roman era and moved near
the present Tinaneian garden. From the 14th to the 17th century,
uninhabited Piraeus was dominated by its form from the entrance of
the port and was the first thing travelers saw when they arrived at
the port. Thus the port was designated on nautical charts as "porto
Lyon" or "porto Leone". Today there is an exact copy of it, created
by the sculptor Georgios Megoulas, since the original was stolen in
1688 by Francesco Morosini and is in Venice.
The diplography
"porto Lyon" or "porto Leone" and "Porto Draco" (Porto Draco) or
"Porto Dracone" (Porto Dracone) during Catalans, respectively "Ezder
port" (Port of the dragon in the Turkish language) during Turkish
rule was due in the fact that the owner of the entire area of the
port was an Athenian from the 16th century with the last name
Drakos. This is how the marble lion was considered a "dragon" in
popular opinion.
"Port of Athens" (Meletius, 17th century).
During the 19th century, Piraeus was also referred to as Maghestria
or Magestria (i.e. Manchester) of the East, due to its port and
railway facilities.
Many ancient writers, in order to strengthen the insular character of
Piraeus, etymologically derive the word "Piraeus" from "peraieus" (with
an alternation of ε to ει). Piraeus means the ferryman (peraeo = I cross
opposite), i.e. the one who undertakes ferrying from the Faliraki coast
to the opposite shore of the island of Piraeus. According to Dragatsis
I. and Hatzis A., the name was later changed from an accusative to a
toponym, (combining pharmako (medicine - druggist) and vapto (dye -
dyer). Thus Piraeus indicates a profession like the toponyms Perama,
Galatas, etc. In ancient Greek "porthmeus" was called not only piraeus
but also piraeus (S. Byzantium). J. Schmidt and K. Wahrman (1929) also
agree with this etymology. Finally, this opinion is reinforced by the
name Piraeus which was also called the port of ancient Corinth which
also meant ferries.
According to others, the name Piraeus is
derived from "peran" (to the other side) because in ancient times there
was a marshy place in between (the so-called "alipedon"), as the
opposite banks were also called similarly, e.g.:
Perea Palestine,
beyond the Jordan River.
Perea, opposite Tenedos and Mysias.
Perea
Corinth (today's Perachora).
Perea of Syria, whose inhabitants were
called Piraeans.
Perea Smyrni (suburb of Smyrna).
Following
the above, A. Hatzis argues that even in today's dialect the names
Pereas, or Peraias and Pereas or Peraias do not constitute barbarism,
referring to the Pape-Benseler dictionary to the word Piraeus.
The national television station SKAI, the radio stations of the SKAI
group 100.3, Happy Radio 104, BwinSPORT FM 94.6, Pepper 96.6, Menda 88
(the last three with studios in Moschato), the Piraeus Church of the
Holy Metropolis of Piraeus are based and housed in Piraeus. , the
Channel One 90.4 of the Municipality of Piraeus as well as the local
newspapers En Piraei, Municipal Mellon, Ta Nea tou Saronicou, Neos
Logos, Social and others.
It is worth pointing out that the first
Greek non-state channel in Greece and also the first subscription
channel later was the channel of the Municipality of Piraeus
broadcasting from the hill of Prophet Ilias with the distinctive title
TV Plus.
Educational institutions
In wider Piraeus operate:
146 Public Kindergartens
146 Public Elementary Schools
62 Public
High Schools
58 Public High School
2 University Institutions
In the Municipality of Piraeus there are:
54 Public Kindergartens
60 Public Primary Schools, of which one is Experimental (Rallios Primary
School)
22 Public High Schools including one Standard, one
Experimental and one Evening
22 Public High Schools (Ralleios which
is one of the few girls' schools in Greece) of which 1 evening, 1
experimental (Zanneio[30]) and 1 model (Ionideos which is the second
school building built in the newer Piraeus in 1845 -47 donated by
Constantinos Ionidis and was located on the site where the current
school "Ionideos School" is housed)
1 Naval High School
1 Music
Middle School/High School
1 Sports High School
2 Special
Vocational Education and Training Workshops
7 Vocational High Schools
of which 1 evening
2 Vocational Schools
3 University Institutions,
the University of Piraeus, the School of Naval Cadets and the School of
Ensign Cadets of the Coast Guard - Hellenic Coast Guard where it is
housed in the facilities of the School of Naval Cadets.
The most popular sports clubs of the municipality of Piraeus are the
Olympic Fan Association of Piraeus and the National Fan Club of
Piraeus-Faliros, while other well-known and historical clubs are the
Football Sports Club of Atromitos Piraeus, the Dodecanese Sports Club of
Argonauts of Piraeus, the Piraeus Association and the Erets Group.
Among the other municipalities of Piraeus, the most popular sports
clubs are the Progressive Youth Sports Club and the Ionian Nikaia Sports
Club, while other well-known clubs include A.O. Chalkidon, the A.P.O.
Keratsiniou, A.P.O. Peramaikos, A.P.S.E. Amfialis, G.N.O. Aris Nikias,
A.O. Faros Keratsiniou et al.
Maritime transport
The port of Piraeus is the largest in Greece
and the Mediterranean, it has four terminals. The first is the passenger
one, which accepts ships and boats from Crete, the Aegean Sea, and the
Argosaronic Sea, as well as cruise ships from other countries such as
Cyprus and Israel. In 2007, the passenger terminal handled a total of
21,522,917 passengers. The second is the terminal for cars and other
vehicles, which in 2007 had 612,840 cars, 260,605 trucks and 9,920
buses. The third is the commercial terminal, where commercial ships
transport goods to and from Piraeus. It has a capacity of 900,000 square
meters and has two piers with a third under construction. The fourth is
the cargo terminal which has a capacity of 180,000 square meters and an
annual cargo of 25,000,000 tons. In 2008, it employed 1,681 people.
Urban transport
The city is served by buses/trolleys, the metro
line 1, the suburban train, the Athens tram, the interurban KTEL and by
the metro line 3.
OSE
Piraeus Railway Station is the starting
point of the Piraeus-Thessaloniki line and lines 1 and 2 of the Athens
Suburban, which connect Piraeus with Athens International Airport
"Eleftherios Venizelos" and Kiato in the Peloponnese respectively. It
has one side dock and two island docks. In its earliest form, it also
had an engine room, which is preserved to this day.
Metro and
Tram
The metro station in Piraeus, on Odessos Square, is today the
terminus of the electric line of the Athens metro. On October 10, 2022,
the connection between the station and Metro Line 3 will be made through
the Nikaia - Municipal Theater extension under construction.
The
extension of the tram to Piraeus began to be built in 2013 based on the
relevant contract signed on January 14, 2013 between Attiko Metro S.A.
and the contractor company Foundation SA. and was 1.5 million euros. The
project was completed in December 2021, when the tram started its first
services after several delays. The tram line in Piraeus is single-track,
that is, the trams pass from each stop in one direction only.
Buses and trolleys
Various bus lines and trolley lines end and start
in Piraeus. The urban bus network covers the majority of the
transportation project in the urban complex of Athens - Piraeus. With
280 lines, it serves transfers from the suburbs to the centers of
Piraeus and Athens and vice versa, transfers to and from Metro stations,
connection to the Athens International Airport and many other transfers.
Trolleys similarly connect Piraeus with central Athens as well as the
areas in between. The network is operated by O.SY. S.A.
Road
transport
Due to the geomorphology of Piraeus and the narrow entrance
to the peninsula, there is no strong national road network. 2 main road
arteries connect the city with the rest of Attica: Piraeus Street and
Posidonos Avenue Junction / Highway 1 (Athens - Thessaloniki - Evzoni).
It starts from the border of Piraeus with Paleo Faliro, heads towards
Athens and later towards Lamia and Thessaloniki.
In addition to
the PATHE highway, two national roads pass through Piraeus. The first is
national road 56, which connects Piraeus with Athens. The second is
national road 56a, which connects Piraeus with Keratsini and Skaramangas
in the west and Paleo Faliro in the east.
The climate of Piraeus is warm semi-arid (the only such climate in Greece according to the climate atlas of the National Meteorological Service) according to the Köppen Climate Classification. At the same time, Piraeus is the warmest region annually in Continental Europe for the period 1981-2010. The main features of the region are clear skies most of the year, long autumns and hot and dry summers. Snowfalls in winter are relatively rare and when they do occur they are usually light with few exceptions while heavy rainfall occurs from late September to late April.