The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa
Athanàton (Immortals’ Alley): A Brief Account of
Its History, Past and Present
Aglaia Kremezi
The area around the central food market is one of the few architectural vestiges that
remains virtually unchanged from the 1830s, when Athens was established as the capital
of an independent Greece. Unfortunately, only the municipal market building that houses
the fish market and the meat stalls around its perimeter has been restored properly. The
privately owned, beautiful old buildings that surround it and are part of the market complex
are disintegrating steadily to the point of dereliction. Although some store fronts are shut,
while others show visible signs of utter neglect, this neighbourhood ‘of miracles’ as it was
once called, is still lively and charming, full of gems for anybody interested in reasonably
priced authentic food and old-fashioned kitchen and house utensils.
In my paper I briefly examine the past and present of the municipal market, the area
around it, and the imposing building along the market’s northern side, called Stoa Athanaton
(Immortal’s Alley). It is an integral part of the market, connected with a renovated iron roof
that covers the narrow Armodiou street, which separates the two buildings.
The market’s history
During the last years of Ottoman rule Athens was nothing more than a small, unimportant
town with 1,500 houses and 124 churches.1 Most of its inhabitants cultivated the surrounding
fertile fields of Attica and lived in houses built around the Acropolis and scattered kolones
(columns), the countless remnants of ancient fortifications, temples and arches.
A few years after the creation of the Greek State, in 1830, Otto, royal prince of Bavaria,
was appointed first king of Greece by the three Great Powers (Britain, France and Russia).
He then chose Athens as his capital to please his father, Ludwig I king of Bavaria, who was a
philhellene, a great admirer of classical Greece. The illustrious group of European architects
recruited by the young king aspired to design a modern city comparable with its glorious
past. Although the ambitious city plans changed several times before they were finally
realized, the place assigned to the Central Market, although reduced in size, remained
roughly where it was originally located, on Athinàs, the street that runs north to south,
equally dividing the heart of downtown Athens.
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
While construction around the area of the future Market – on Athinàs, Eolou and
Ermou Streets – began booming in 1840s, and ‘charming and stable mansions’2 were
erected, until 1875 the municipality of Athens was still disputing the exact location of the
new Market. The funds needed to buy privately owned houses and pieces of land at the site
were not yet secured. Finally the Greek government, in its 1877 budget, set aside 30,000
drachmas for the project. But construction didn’t start because the Russian-Turkish war
was imminent. The municipality decided that it was better to set the money aside for the
eventuality of war, if Greece were involved along with other Balkan countries.
The Market’s construction started in 1878 but stopped the next year because of disputes
with the contractor and a lack of funds. Work started again in 1880, with a large loan from
the National Bank of Greece, but stopped again, half-way, in 1882, because of disputes with
the new contractors – an ongoing curse that infects most Greek public works to this day.
Contrary to the glorious ‘Neoclassical Trilogy’ of buildings –the Academy of Athens,
the National Library, and the University – designed by the Danish architects Theophile
and Christian Hansen, the Central Market bears no resemblance to these striking
constructions. Although a sketch of the market made by Christian Hansen allegedly
exists,3 no design of the Market has been found in his archives. Ioannis Koumelis, a Greek
architect from the island of Andros is cited as the engineer who designed the municipal
Market of Athens.
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Figure 1: The market after the 1985-86 renovations.
Meanwhile, all these years the main market of Athens continued to be the old upper
bazaar, a cluster of wooden sheds on the southern foothill of the Acropolis, at the top of Eolou
Street, among the ruins of the Roman Agora and the remaining wall of Adrian’s library.
In the centre of the bazaar stood Elgin’s Tower: a tall construction built in 1811 to
house the clock lord Elgin ceremoniously offered to Athens to show his appreciation for
the classical statues, inscriptions and architectural artefacts that he removed from the
Acropolis. The upper bazaar was the heart and centre of the old city, the region where
people gathered not just to shop but also to socialize. The Kouseyio – probably from the
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
French ‘conseil’ (council) – the regional government during the last Ottoman period, was
housed in a two-story building in this area.
Figure 2: Athens Central Market, 1910-20 (Benaki Museum Photo Archives).
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Figure 3
On the night of August 8th, 1884 a fire destroyed the bazaar’s wooden stands as well
as Elgin’s tower. This accidental event forced the merchants to hastily move their wares to
the half-finished municipal market on Athinàs street. The glass roof was installed a few
months later in October, along with the basement racks and drains. The building was
finally completed in 1886. It is estimated that its cost was about half a million drachmas.4
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
The building
A glass and iron structure, along the lines of similar commercial constructions throughout
Europe, especially Italy, the building of the municipal market is a symmetrical rectangle
45 by 70 meters, with a series of arched doorways on the façade; it spans over an atrium
18 by 58 meters, the largest metal construction in Athens at the time. Its trusses comprise
rafters with a double-T section while the tractors and stanchions, with their diagonal
braces, are tubular steel rods. They are still in remarkably good condition.5
The main building houses 74 shops inside and out, and a basement along the rectangular
perimeter. Between 1902-05 the original glass roof was replaced with a metal one and marble
counters were installed. In 1906 a tower with a clock was added at the centre of the roof. The
municipality repaired the building in 1981-83, while in 1985-86 the façade was restored to its
original design and repainted; non-slip flooring was installed in the fish market, much to my relief.
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Figure 4
Figure 5: The fish market (left). The permanent metal roof fitted in 2004 along the three
sides of the central building covering the bordering streets (right).
In 2004 a permanent metal roof was fitted along the three sides of the central building,
covering the bordering narrow streets – Armodiou, Filopimenos and Aristogitonos. The
roof replaced the pre-existing, shabby tin awnings, linking the surrounding buildings to
the central construction of the fish and meat market.
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
The extended market complex has side entrances on Sofokleous and Evripidou streets;
both these streets house cheese, charcuterie, spice and other food shops.
On the block across from the fish market, on Athinàs street, stood the imposing
Varvakeion high school. Ioannis Varvakis,6 also known as Ivan Andreevich Varvatsi, was a
wealthy merchant originally from the tiny Aegean island of Psara. A skilful sailor he took
part in the early, unsuccessful wars of Independence. With his ship he played an important
role during the Russian-Turkish naval war showing extraordinary courage during the
1770 Battle of Chesma (Çeşme). Catherine the Great of Russia rewarded him with 1,000
golden rubles and an authorization for unlimited and duty-free fishing in the Caspian Sea.
Varvakis is the one who found a way to preserve and export caviar to Europe7 in specially
created, absolutely waterproof timber boxes. In retrospect, one could say that this fact
could link him to the Athens fish market; but in truth the name Varvakeios often used for
the municipal market, is a mere reference to the school that was created after his death,
with 1 million rubles he left in his will to promote education for the new Greek state. The
original Varvakeion school – still operating in Psychikon today – was demolished in 1944
as this area was destined to be part of the municipal market complex.
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Figure 6: Athens Central Market, March 1938 (Benaki Museum Photo Archives)
The plot was never properly developed, though. During the last renovation of the market
an underground parking garage and an elevated square and municipal coffee shop were
constructed. It wasn’t an inspired design and is said to be partly responsible for the decline
of the area. Not visible from the street, the square was attracting drug dealers and their
customers all-day long, not just at night, the shopkeepers complained. There are vegetable
and fruit stalls on the two sides of that block – on Armodiou and Aristogeitonos – while
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
at the opposite side of Armodiou a grocery store selling Polish/Russian food is thriving, as
are other ethnic grocery stores in the extended market area.
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Figure 7: Google aerial view of the unified market block that includes the covered
narrow Armodiou, Aristogeitonos and Filopimenos streets.
Figure 8: The original Varvakeion High School, in 1867.
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
The fish market
The fish market in the main municipal building is spectacular. It might not be nearly like
Tokyo’s Tsukiji or Barcelona’s Boqueria, but it is quite large and impressive. One finds here
very fresh and reasonably-priced fish and seafood, and although recently imported salmon
has claimed an important space on the ice-covered marble counters, there are still lots of
local and rare fish, like galeos (dog fish), much praised since antiquity.8 Of course these
days people are buying mostly fresh sardines and anchovies–considered poor people’s fish
– for less than 4 Euros a kilo. Others get the miscellaneous small catch that remain on the
nets when fishermen separate the breams, groupers, snappers and red mullet that are sold
upwards of 25 Euros a kilo; the small ones, used for kakavia (the Greek fish soup) go for less
than 5 Euros a kilo.
When in the ‘80s I started to buy my fish, spices, and occasionally vegetables and herbs
regularly from the market my mother and aunts were genuinely shocked. They told me that
the merchants were notoriously unreliable and extremely cunning, almost magicians who
managed to replace the fish you had chosen with another, rotten one, in front of your eyes;
and they would surely cheat while weighing the goods, they said. Strangely, I now hear
similar claims even from owners of buildings around the market. I was never cheated, by
the way, and always got the best fish and seafood there.
By the time I had my own kitchen, most middle-class and wealthy Athenians were not
buying their fish here. Only poor people, who could not afford the steep prices and limited
selection of expensive neighbourhood fishmongers, remained loyal to the old market. The
poor didn’t mind scaling and gutting their fish, a chore undertaken by the fishmongers
around Athens. Despite the upscaling, no pun intended, of the fish trade, people who
really cared and knew their fish, as well as many restaurant owners and chefs, remained
loyal customers. Spyros Korakis, president of the market’s fishmongers and well-known to
Athenian foodies, is the third generation of his family in shop number 68, midway on the
northern side of the hall. His is a very well kept office, decorated with posters and engravings
by Greek painters, old rare photographs of the area, antique telephones and a board where
the various paper drachmas are nicely pinned. The original wood-carved sign with his
grandfather’s name is also here. He seemed very busy, all the time answering the phone and
filling orders for homes and restaurants around the city, yet he too was complaining that
the business was not going well. His son, who wanted to do other, better things, was now
obliged to work with him in the market, he told me. He clearly didn’t feel any pride or joy
that one more Korakis generation was going to continue in the family trade.
Clean Monday, the first day of Lent, a public holiday, has always been the most important
day for the fish market. The stands are filled with octopus, calamari and cuttlefish, shrimp,
crab, and lobsters, also mussels and the delicious small scallops, all traditionally eaten to
mark the beginning of the Lent period, when eating red-blooded animals is prohibited. In
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
the old days the market opened as early as 4 in the morning; many people who partied the last
night of the carnival in Plaka or in downtown homes and bars came straight to the market
spreading confetti, often in funny or elaborate costumes, to buy the traditional Lenten food
they would enjoy with their friends before getting back home for a few hours’ sleep.
Meat and innards
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The meat market, spread in stalls all around the fish market hall, was never very tempting, at
least since I started to shop here in the early 1980s. After the big renovation, and especially
close to the 2004 Athens Olympics, the butchers were obliged to get refrigerated glass cases
and stop hanging lamb, kid and chicken carcasses in the open alleys, or displaying pieces of
meat on the counters all-day long. The refrigerators were indeed purchased and for a brief
time the market’s meat alleys started to look less like colourful Arab souks and more like
any sterile European or American market. Gradually, though, the refrigerator doors were
removed and they became the stage props for the stars of the show: whole carcasses or parts
of slaughtered animals reclaimed their old places, hanging from the traditional hooks,
while all kinds of butchered pieces were, again, piled on the old beautiful marble counters.
The meat market was always a great place for all sorts of innards and ‘inferior’ parts of
veal, lamb, chicken and pork: tripe and feet, lamb’s intestines, liver and kidneys, veal hearts
and chicken stomachs, as well as ameletita (non-mentionable) – veal testicles, considered a
delicacy in the old days.
Today butchers seem to be hit hardest by the economic crisis. The meat market used
to peak around Christmas, as people traditionally buy pork or turkey for the festive table.
Again, before Easter, the market would reach its peak, when every family gets a whole lamb
or kid to roast on the spit. Recently, even for those sacred days, business hasn’t seemed to
really pick up. Last year a rumour spread in the city about four, five or six rich ladies who
visited the market with their shiny SUVs. They went to some stalls and bought 20,000
(25,000 or even 40,000) Euro worth of turkeys which they distributed to the poor people
who happened to be there. The story was repeated on radio shows and blogs, it even made
front-page news in some newspapers. Nobody actually saw these ladies; butchers were
asking one another where they did their lavish shopping. Journalists couldn’t find one who
had sold meat to these mysterious benefactors or anyone who received the gift. Even so, the
exact same story re-surfaced last Easter, with the ladies buying lamb this time. Still some
people insist that it did happen, while others claim that it was a fabrication of some clever
butchers who spread the rumour, hoping to attract more people to the market.
As a child, growing up on the outskirts of the city, I visited the area only before
Christmas. With my parents we didn’t come shopping for food, but to get some new toy,
usually a doll at Tsokas, the largest toy store in Athens on Eolou street, behind the fish
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market. The shop disappeared a long time ago, as the best clothing and other non foodrelated shops moved to Ermou Street and later to the posh Kolonaki area. Eolou became a
pedestrian street, a bargain shopping area where very cheap clothes, shoes, linen, gifts and
gadgets were sold, often from carts or from baskets on the pavement outside the shops. Few
such shops still operate, a Marks and Spenser among them. Store fronts that are not bolted
shut have been transformed to coffee shops, bars and restaurants that give new life to the
area from midday well until the wee hours of the night.
Stoa Athanaton (Immortal’s Alley)
The building along the market’s northern side, on Sofokleous street, belonged to a wealthy
lawyer named Angelopoulos – no relation to the also wealthy Mrs. Angelopoulos who was
very active during the 2004 Olympics. The lawyer was so successful in court that he was
nicknamed Athanatos (immortal). The building’s main entrance (photo top left) in the
alley on 17-19 Sofokleous street was called Stoa Athanaton (immortal’s alley) and this came
to be the building’s name.
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Figure 9
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238
This large two-story mansion was most probably built before the municipal market, but
unfortunately I have not been able to locate records or original designs. It is one of the most
unusual in that area, where the Neoclassical style dominates. Stoa Athanaton has a curved
border under the roof and painted panels in dark background between the windows. It
has an inside court and once housed several families on the floor above the shops, Mr.
Altsitzoglou, the administrator and one of the 42 owners of the building, told me. The
shops were always rented to various merchants and were never related to the resident’s
businesses, Mr. Altsitzoglou said.
The pitiful state of Stoa Athanaton – similar to most buildings in the area – is not just
the result of the latest economic problems. This building has a record number of owners,
while other properties have been bequeathed to religious or other non-profit organizations
by their departed landlords. Listed as historical monuments, these buildings can only be
restored following strict rules. Even for the most vital repairs, like fixing the leaking wooden
roof, specific blueprints have to be submitted and approved, passing through considerable
red tape, until inspections and permits are granted.
Of course renovating such buildings is terribly costly, and special loans for such
purposes are practically non-existent now; and out of the question for the Stoa Athanaton’s
42 owners who are struggling to pay the latest stiff property tax with almost no income.
The first floor is mostly empty and half the ground floor shops are closed; even the ones
that still operate pay considerably reduced rent, if they pay at all. The historic Pantopoleion
tis Stoas Athanaton (grocery store of the Immortals’ Alley), among the stalls of the meat
market (photo bottom right), is trying hard to survive. A family business since 1957, it was
once famous for its great variety of olives, salted sardines and anchovies, pickled vegetables
and olive oil from the family farm in the Peloponnese. Although it is often mentioned in
food blogs, newspapers and magazines, it has not managed to attract new customers, while
the old ones are either dead or too old to travel beyond their neighbourhood supermarket.
The owners blame it on the considerably reduced clientele, as do all the merchants in the
fish and meat market.
Most merchants pay very low rent for their stalls in the municipal market; the financial
department of the municipality informed me that more than half of the market’s tenants
have not paid rent the last two years. About 30-40% of the people who operated meat,
vegetable or fish stalls have abandoned them in the last two years. The auctions to fill the
empty spots went unfulfilled, although the prices are very low.
Epilogue
As is often the case in Greece, when elected politicians – mayors or deputies – are involved,
decisions and actions are not transparent and may take several years. The market is supposed
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The Municipal Market of Athens and Stoa Athanàton
to offer food at low prices, catering to people on a limited budget. There are fewer shoppers
now than ever, and those who do come spend less; most merchants seem completely
resigned and demoralized, not even bothering to remove the dusty Christmas decorations
six months after the holidays.
On the other hand, it is obvious that the whole area in and around the fish and meat
market is increasingly becoming a tourist attraction. A few renovated old food shops taken
over by the younger generation have become very successful gourmet attractions: Elixir on
Evripidou street sells all kinds of spices, exotic herbs and teas; Miran, on the same street,
the famous producers of pasturma (spicy cumin-and-fenugreek-encrusted pastrami) since
1925 has expanded, his fourth generation owner has added a few tables and offers tastings
of not just the spicy dried beef and sausages, but also camel pasturma and a choice of drinks.
On Sofokleous street Zouridakis is a new, nicely designed shop that sells fabulous cheeses,
homemade pasta, cookies and frozen pies from Crete. People line up to get a taste and
buy a piece of the hard and creamy anthotyro, or the 24-month aged graviera that tastes
better than parmesan and is rarely found anywhere else in Athens. All these shops have
websites and Facebook pages. Maybe other merchants could explore similar paths and try
to satisfy the changing tastes of the younger consumers who flock the hip Eolou street bars
and restaurants, as well as the tourists.
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Figure 10
In November 2012, at a time when the whole area was at its worst and people avoided
coming here especially after dark, the Athens Opera organized a free performance inside
the market:9 well-known artists sang arias from a stage set where the meat and fish alleys
meet. It was a joined effort that tried to bring a different cross-section of the population
to this part of the city and also attract a new audience to the opera. It was very successful
attended by 3,000 people from all over the city and the suburbs; most had never set foot in
the market before and expressed sheer fascination in the Greek social media, the organizers
told me. Did this one-time event attract new buyers to the fish and meat market stalls? The
results are yet to be determined.
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Notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Kostas Biris. Athens from the 19th to the 20th century. Athens, Melissa Editions 1966 (in Greek)
Ibid. page 77
Architect Maria Daniel’s unpublished thesis (in Greek)
Archives of the Municipality of Athens, 1938
Nikolaos E. Thanopoulos. Imposing Buildings of Athens in the 19th and the Beginning of 20th cent.
(1834-1916); Assessment of the Structure and Static Methodology (in Greek)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Varvakis. Note that in this entry, as in some Greek sources,
Varvakis’ name is linked with the central market’s construction, although he had absolutely no
connection.
‘God Loves Caviar’ the 2011 film by Yannis Smaragdis, a Greek-Russian co-production, relates Varvakis’
story.
Archestratus. Fragments from The Life of Luxury. A modern English Translation with an Introduction
and commentary by John Wilkins & Shaun Hill. London, Prospect Books 2011. P.57
Video excerpts of the performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7gxhiK8HDE
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