ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE TO ATHENS

Publishing an Architectural Guide cannot be considered as a novel idea. Yet it is by no means worthless. On the contrary, it might prove particularly useful if through that Guide visitors as well as inhabitants can enrich their knowledge about the buildings, the streets and the squares, the monuments, the gardens and the parks of this city, can remember or discover things they might have only formal knowledge of while passing by them on a daily basis, and thus re-appreciate the urban environment where they live by acknowledging the value of its components. Let us not forget that the hurried and often frenzied rhythm of everyday life is hardly conducive to taking a light-hearted and unburdened look at our surroundings, especially if what is around has acquired an aggressive quality, as we often observe, reasonably enough.On the other hand, as urban environments become more and more complex, since between the viewer and the view -because a city may, and indeed should, represent a view, as well- come numerous things that distort the picture (all kinds of vehicles, signs, billboards, lighting elements, cables, sounds etc.) and are usually placed in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner, almost unavoidably our attention is diverted on them rather than being turned on the various buildings, of greater or lesser significance, around us. [...] (From the publisher)