The Old Royal Palace ( el, Παλαιά Ανάκτορα ''Palaiá Anáktora'') is the first royal palace of modern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, completed in 1843. It has housed the Hellenic Parliament since 1934. The Old Palace is situated at the heart of modern

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 ...

, facing onto Syntagma Square.

History

The palace was designed by Bavarian architect

Friedrich von Gärtner Friedrich von Gärtner (10 December 1791 in Koblenz – 21 April 1847 in Munich) was a German architect. Biography His father was also an architect, and moved in 1804 to Munich, where young Gärtner received his first education in archite ...

for King

Otto of Greece Otto (, ; 1 June 181526 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the monarchy on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed on 23 October 1862. The second son of King Ludw ...

, with funds donated by Otto's father, King

Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

. Previous proposals had placed the new palace at the sites of

Omonoia Square Omonoia Square (, ''Plateía Omonoías'', , "Concord Square", often simply referred to as ''Omónia'' ) is a central square in Athens. Forming the centre of Omonoia. It marks the northern corner of the downtown area defined by the city plans of ...

Kerameikos Kerameikos (, ) also known by its Latinized form Ceramicus, is an area of Athens, Greece, located to the northwest of the Acropolis, which includes an extensive area both within and outside the ancient city walls, on both sides of the Dipylon ...

and even on top the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

. Construction work started in 1836 and was completed in 1843. Greek Old Royal Palace on fire crop

After suffering fire damage in 1909, it entered a long period of renovation. During renovations the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and his family moved to the Crown Prince's Palace, from then on known as the "New Palace", one block to the east on

Herodou Attikou Street Herodou Attikou Street or Irodou Attikou Street (Greek: Οδός Ηρώδου Αττικού, ) is located east of downtown Athens and is adjacent to the National Garden of Athens. The street is named after the ancient Athenian rhetorician, magn ...

. Some of the royal family, chiefly the dowager Queen Olga, continued to reside in the "Old Palace" until 1922. In 1924, a referendum abolished the monarchy. The building was then used for many different purposes—housing a variety of government and public services in the 1920s, functioning as a makeshift hospital during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a refugee shelter for

Greek refugees Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish War ...

from

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

in 1922, a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

with the personal effects of King George I (now part of the collection of the National Historical Museum), and other uses. In November 1929 the government decided that the building would permanently house Parliament (previously housed in what is now called the Old Parliament House). After more extensive renovations, the Senate convened in the "Old Palace" on 2 August 1934, followed by the Fifth National Assembly on 1 July 1935. Although the monarchy was restored that same year, the building has housed Parliament ever since. Hellenic Parliament from high above.jpg, Aerial photograph of the Old Royal Palace from the

Hotel Grande Bretagne The Hotel Grande Bretagne ( el, Ξενοδοχείο Μεγάλη Βρεταννία) is a luxury hotel in Athens, Greece. It is located on Syntagma Square, on the corner of Vasileos Georgiou A' and Panepistimiou Streets. It is owned presently ...

. Hellenic Parliament-MPs swearing in.png, The interior of the Old Royal Palace

Bibliography

References

External links

Official website of the Hellenic ParliamentHistory of the Hellenic Parliament Building
{{Coord, 37, 58, 31, N, 23, 44, 13, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:GR-A1 Landmarks in Athens Neoclassical palaces 1843 establishments in Greece Buildings and structures completed in 1843

Government buildings in Athens Hellenic Parliament Neoclassical architecture in Greece