As part of the overall aesthetic and functional upgrade of the archaeological sites of the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Kerameikos, the Ministry of Culture, through the competent Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, is proceeding to improve accessibility by restoring the ancient visitor traffic routes, adding new with a provision for the disabled and disabled people, as well as the creation of new standing, resting and viewing areas. The overall project, at these two extremely important archaeological sites in the historical center of Athens, includes interventions to protect the monuments, upgrade the entrances, arrange rainwater, fire protection and upgrade the necessary infrastructure to serve visitors. The project, total budget of €5,800,000is financed by the resources of the Recovery Fund and has a horizon of completion at the end of this year.

The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni stated: “The improvement and restoration of the public movement network within the archaeological sites of the Ancient Agora of Athens and Kerameikos, with special care for the unimpeded access of the disabled and in general people with mobility difficulties in hard-to-reach places of the space, is a priority for the proper functioning of the spaces and agrees with the imperatives of inclusiveness and non-exclusion. The redesign of the routes with the engraving and new ones combined with the infrastructure upgrading operations in the specific areas, aims to facilitate the visitors’ tour of the archaeological site by ensuring universal accessibility. Through the new routes, suitably designed for people with mobility difficulties, visitors will be able to freely navigate the archaeological and monumental environment and have a better understanding and view of the area, to which the new stopping-viewing points, which are planned, contribute. In the case of Kerameikos, the goal is, through the new entrance, the functional interconnection of this part of the city via Asomaton Street and the archaeological site, while in the case of the Ancient Agora, the aim is for the archaeological site to be perceived as an important political public space and as prominent space of the long and uninterrupted history of Athens through and through the improvement of the semantic connection and integration with the Acropolis. With the completion of the project, visitors, Greeks and foreigners, will be able to enjoy an upgraded visiting experience.”

Archaeological site of Kerameikos

The project for the visitor movement routes and the viewing areas in the archaeological site of Kerameikos includes the interventions required for the smooth movement of the public in the archaeological site, with an emphasis on disabled people. The goal is the aesthetic and functional upgrade of the visit routes, highlighting the archaeological and historical content of the visited area. The existing routes are followed, while the network is extended to parts of the archaeological site that are not yet open to the public. In this way the new path more adequately covers the multidimensional content of the space. At the same time, new viewing stands are being created and hydraulic issues are being resolved. Particular emphasis is placed on the specifications for the disabled, with the construction of ramps and new routes connected to the existing ones. The route network covers all the monumental units of the site, they connect the viewing points to important points of the archaeological site.

Ancient Agora

The routes and itineraries that visitors to the Ancient Agora follow today do not have a single plan. With the exception of the clear outline of Panathinaion Street, all the other routes develop dynamically through the archaeological units, with the dominant ones being the one that leads to the Stoa of Attalos and indirectly connected to Panathinaion Street, as well as the one that leads west to the hill of Temple of Hephaestus. The project under construction divides the routes into three sections: the Panathenaic road, the main ancient networks -West Road, road in front of the Middle Stoa and Piraeus Road-, where issues of state of preservation, accessibility and association with neighboring antiquities are recorded, and the modern paths.

The interventions aim to identify the values ​​and characteristics of the site and the monuments, which must be saved and displayed, in the context of the management of the archaeological site. Through the routes, individual monumental ensembles are highlighted and the connection between them is ensured, in order for the visitor to understand the scale of the area, its urban organization as well as its correlation with the neighboring archaeological sites.

The ancient road network of visitor traffic routes is being restored, with parallel provisions for the disabled and disabled people, while new stop-and-view areas are being created. The interventions concern the part of the organized and visitable archaeological site that stretches from Adrianou Street to the dirt road of Asteroskopiou Street and includes the Central Square, the Industrial area, the hill of Agoraios Colonos, the area of ​​the Pantainou Library and the area of ​​Vassiliou Stoa , south of the ISAP lines. The central idea of ​​the design is the restoration of the ancient routes – Panathinaeon Street, the Western Street, the South Street, the Piraeus Street, the Areio Pago Street, the Marmaroglypton Street, the Upper South Street and the Andiro of the Middle Stoas- and the limitation of modern paths. In this way, the structure of the space, the ancient road network and the monuments can be better understood, while, at the same time, a clear course is created and the circular tour is achieved, so that the spatial narrative is direct and instructive. Paths that cross monuments are removed, with the exception of cases deemed necessary for the perception of the space. In order to shape accesses and traffic for people with disabilities, it is planned to create individual routes to important monuments, with appropriate flooring and ramps. A circular route is created to important viewing points and an access route to the Temple of Hephaestus. New parking areas are being created at selected points, both in the archaeological site and on Asteroskopiou Street, while some existing elements of the urban equipment are planned to be upgraded.