THE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION

200 pages

25x24 cm

194 photographs

English
Other languages: Greek 9786180006421

The Presidential Mansion, generally acknowledged as a building of unique beauty, is a three-storey Neoclassical structure originally built as the palace of the Crown Prince in 1891-1897. It is an especially representative work of the great German architect Ernst Ziller. It would be historically inaccurate, and indeed unfair, to fail to mention that the facade and floorplan of the building are quite similar to an unrealized design for a summer palace by another great architect, Theophil Hansen, who was a friend and colleague of Ziller's, and for whom Ziller had great admiration. The Crown Prince's residence definitively became the Presidential Mansion in 1975 with the restitution of democracy and the establishment of the Third Hellenic Republic, and specifically, after Konstantinos Tsatsos was elected President of the Republic. It should be noted that the building was used as the Presidential Mansion during the Second Hellenic Republic as well, between 1924-1935. Through its daily function as the seat of the President of the Republic, and indeed with this architectural presence, the building symbolizes specific representational aspects of the President of the Republic's institutional role, especially as guarantor of the unity of the Hellenic People and Nation. To this end, the Presidential Mansion is always open to the country's democratic political parties and especially to those represented in the Hellenic Parliament, culminating in the commemoration of the anniversary of the restoration of democracy on 24 July 1974. During this anniversary, the President of the Republic hosts the survivors of the struggle for Democracy and honors the memory of those who fell at the altar of its defense. As much as possible, the Presidential Mansion and its garden is moreover open to the public, especially to students of all ages, so that they may gain first-hand knowledge of the place where a significant part of the history of the modern Hellenic state unfolded - and continues to unfold.

Foreword by the President of the Hellenic Republic

Athens, the new capital

Athens in the late 19th and early 20th century

The Crown Prince's Palace

The Head of State in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

The gardens

The Presidential Guard

Daily life

Collections in the Presidential Mansion

Presidents of the Hellenic Republic

Notes

Acknowledgments