An ambitious exhibition in Athens is bringing together centuries of Greek architecture, tracing the evolution of the built environment from prehistoric times to the 21st century while exploring how tradition, historical change and contemporary social needs have shaped the country’s buildings and settlements.
Titled Architecture in Greece – The Mysterious Language of Form, the exhibition occupies the vast former Tobacco Factory, now owned by the Hellenic Parliament. Organized by CityLab in collaboration with the Technical Chamber of Greece and with the support of Parliament, it brings together architectural photographs, drawings, archival material and contemporary artworks to present a broad account of architecture in the Greek world.
The exhibition is curated by architects Stavros Alifragkis and Panayiotis Pangalos, alongside architect, archaeologist and academic Manolis Korres and Dimitris Filippidis, an emeritus professor of architecture.
Its starting point is the architectural thinking of Dimitris Pikionis, particularly his concept of the “mysterious language of form” and the ability of architectural shapes to engage with tradition and historical time.
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A journey from prehistoric settlements to apartment buildings
Rather than following a conventional chronological presentation, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how different architectural periods, cultural influences and social transformations have interacted over time.
Its layout draws inspiration from a three-aisled basilica, with rows of black triptych panels displaying photographs and reproductions of architectural drawings. The selected examples span from prehistoric structures to buildings of the 21st century.
Along the exhibition’s two side sections, visual narratives draw on the extensive archives of Filippidis and Alifragkis. Photographs, magazines, newspaper clippings, sketches and drawings are arranged into thematic sections exploring the origins of human habitation, apartment buildings, additional floors added to existing structures, reinterpretations of the historical past, landscape and modernity.
Contemporary art also plays an introductory role, offering visitors different ways to approach the architectural narrative.
The works include a concrete staircase by Kostis Velonis; a monument-like runway populated by spiritual figures by Vana Xenou; architectural models with a Gothic atmosphere by Angelos Antonopoulos; a poetic, ecstatic mountain made from found materials by Zisis Kotionis; geometric woven compositions by Maria Schina; giant mechanisms by Panagiotis Tanimanidis; and a sculptural installation by Michalis Manousakis that gathers traces of collective and individual memory.
The industrial building’s expansive interior provides space for the works to contribute to the exhibition’s broader exploration of architecture and its relationship with society and history.
The hidden mechanism behind the Herodes Atticus theater
One of the exhibition’s highlights is a model by Korres that proposes a reconstruction of a previously unknown mechanism used to change stage scenery at the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a Roman-era theater in Athens commonly known as the Herodeion.
Korres began investigating how the stage structure behind the actors operated. After producing hundreds of drawings, making successive revisions and documenting his findings, he developed a model showing how the scenery may have been raised and changed during performances.
According to his calculations, the system relied on four pulleys, ropes and a specialized force-transmission mechanism designed to multiply the strength of one or two operators controlling the large stage structure.
The model forms part of the exhibition’s sections on prehistory and antiquity, curated by Korres, and illustrates how architectural research can reveal the engineering techniques behind historical structures.
Architecture as a living tradition
The exhibition presents ancient Greek architecture not as an isolated chapter of history, but as a tradition that has continued to evolve and be reinterpreted.
The Byzantine and Ottoman periods are similarly treated as active parts of Greece’s architectural heritage, rather than as deviations from a supposedly linear progression toward neoclassicism. The exhibition explores how these traditions intersected with the natural landscape, the environment and the practical needs of habitation.
Its dense collection of material and the changing forms of presentation make the experience demanding, while the approach avoids assigning a straightforward hierarchy to different architectural periods. Historical ruptures, cultural influences and social changes are presented alongside one another, inviting visitors to consider how they shaped the country’s cities and landscapes.
The exhibition’s curators say their aim is not to provide a single, purely instructional account of architectural history.
“Four architects are overseeing how this vision can be presented without becoming a one-dimensional, didactic narrative. That is not our goal,” Alifragkis said. “We want people to come and reflect on what architecture is, what architectural tradition means, and how it engages with contemporary needs and social demands.”
A parallel program of events is also intended to encourage discussion. However, visitors unfamiliar with architectural history may find it difficult to identify the distinctions and symbolism behind the successive transformations that shaped Greece’s built environment, particularly those associated with wars, conquests and cultural change.
A call for a Greek Museum of Architecture
Beyond presenting architectural history to the public, the exhibition raises the question of establishing a Greek Museum of Architecture.
Such an institution would collect, document and preserve the country’s architectural output while providing a dedicated space for research, education and international promotion.
The proposal reflects one of the exhibition’s central themes: architecture is not simply a record of past buildings, but an evolving body of knowledge and cultural expression that continues to shape how people live and how societies respond to changing needs.