Galatsi ( el, Γαλάτσι, ''Galátsi'' ), called in
Katharevousa
Katharevousa ( el, Καθαρεύουσα, , literally "purifying anguage) is a conservative form of the Modern Greek language conceived in the late 18th century as both a literary language and a compromise between Ancient Greek and the contempo ...
Galatsion ( el, Γαλάτσιον, ''Galátsion''), is a northern suburb of
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece, and a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the g ...
of the
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...
region. The municipality has an area of 4.026 km
2.
Until the mid-20th century, the area was mainly made up of farmlands but due to the continuous expansion of the Greek capital, Galatsi was rapidly urbanised and has come to lie in the center of the Athens
agglomeration
Agglomeration may refer to:
* Urban agglomeration, in standard English
* Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as " city cluster".
* Economies of ...
.
Etymology
Although several etymologies have been proposed about the origin of the name ''Galatsi'', which already appears in the book of 1870, ''History of Athens'', it originates from the surname of Symeon Galakis, a squire who purchased lands around the church of Agia Glykeria in 1851. Consequently, the whole area was given his name, which, according to the phenomenon featuring the old Athenian phonology and known as
tsitakism, was pronounced 'Galatsis', thus the name of the area was finally ''Galatsi''. An alternative theory suggests that it derived from ''gala'', the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word for the ''milk'' that the shepherds of the area's rangelands yelled hovering around in order to sell their products.
Geography
Galatsi is an inner suburb of Athens, located northeast of the city centre. Its built-up area is continuous with those of Central Athens and neighbouring suburb
Nea Ionia
Nea Ionia ( el, Νέα Ιωνία, meaning New Ionia) is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. It was named after Ionia, the region in Anatolia from which many Greeks migrated in the 1920s as a part of th ...
. It is one of the most densely populated areas of Athens, with a high percentage of its lands covered by flora though, as the hill of
Tourkovounia with its forests and the park
Alsos Veikou are among the major "green lungs" within the centre of Athens. The famous
Grava school complex is located there, as are many other educational foundations and public and private institutes.
Demography
Sites of interest
*
Alsos Veikou, a beautiful leafy park
*
Galatsi Olympic Hall - where table tennis and gymnastics were played. It holds up to 6,200 seats Website
*
Omorfokklisia, a 12th-century church in an area known for its peace and calmness
Transportation
* Trolleys: 5 & 14
* Busses: 608, 444, 036, 622. From 5 April 2019 the line Ano Galatsi - Lamprini (with a second phase the extension to the rest of Galatsi and Metro Stations
Γραμμή Απριλίου 2019 σελ.11
/ref>)
* Metro: Line 4 by 3 stations: Alsos Veikou, Galatsi and Elikonos (2027)
References
External links
Official website
G-Magazine
Galatsinews
{{Kallikratis-Attica
Municipalities of Attica
Populated places in Central Athens (regional unit)