Fire-Scarred Central Athens Cinemas To Receive Facelift

Two historical movie theaters in downtown Athens could be fully operational once more by the end of the year, if all goes according to plan in an initiative of the Museum of the City of Athens and the Vouros-Eutaxias Foundation with the support of Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis, who hopes that their relaunch could signal the rebirth of central Stadiou Street – once a vibrant shopping and entertainment thoroughfare and now a desolate stretch of closed shops.

It bodes well for the plan – though few know this fact – that the interior areas of both the Attikon and Apollon cinemas were untouched by the firebombs thrown by protesters in February 2012 during a violent riot that claimed the lives of three employees at Marfin Bank, located nearby on Stadiou Street. The exteriors of the two movie theaters, which are both located in the same once-beautiful block, were badly damaged.

“The fire was stopped at the last minute thanks to the efforts of a handful of firefighters and the cinemas’ operator, Giorgos Tsakalakis, and members of his family and staff on that fateful day,” says Antonis Vogiatzis, president of the board of directors for the Museum of the City of Athens, which is located nearby.

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by Nikos Vatopoulos