money After Mass Grave of Skeletons Found, Some Won’t Set Foot in This Starchitect’s Library
In April 2016, excavations in southern Athens uncovered a mass grave containing the skeletons of 80 people who were likely tortured to death in the seventh century B.C. The skeletons, which archaeologists believe to be the remains of political rebels who launched an attempted coup to take over Athens in 632 B.C., were lined up one after the other, some in chains. Tortured remains of seventh-century B.C. rebels found in a mass grave would be interesting but not remarkable here in Athens, a city where the ancient past is never far away.
Except the grave of tormented souls was found during excavations for the city’s slick new modern library designed by starchitect Renzo Piano, and to this day there are still people who swear it is cursed and vow never to visit.
Which is a shame, because the new Greek National Library is the kind of progressive, forward-thinking architecture Athens has been crying out for, and has already become a symbol of hope and revival for the city.
It replaces the old National Library, housed in a beautiful but cramped neoclassical building of the 19th century designed by Theophil Hansen, a peripatetic Danish architect who was also responsible for designing the Austrian National Parliament in Vienna. The old library was located on Panepistimiou Street in central Athens, part of the celebrated “Neoclassical Trilogy” together with the Academy of Athens and the University of Athens.
While Hansen’s library was about reviving the past, Piano’s is about heralding the future. The traditional rhetoric of stone columns and hefty bas-reliefs is substituted for the modern technology of glass and steel. The new library has a capacity of up to 7 million books. And through its electronic sources, readers have access to up to 250+ million books.
The library is in fact just one part of a larger complex known as the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), located in the gritty coastal neighborhood of Kallithea. The foundation itself, which largely funded the project, is now headquartered here, as is the National Opera House, transferring from a dingy building in central Athens. There’s also a huge 21-hectare park and 5,700 rooftop solar panels, which the foundation claims can cover 100 percent of the building’s energy needs in a good month.
The park itself is a delight. Considerably more manicured than other Athenian parks, its network of paths gives it a faintly labyrinthine feel. It crawls up onto the roof of the library along a gentle slope which you can easily ascend, and where you are rewarded with lovely views of the Mediterranean Sea. Olive trees—the most pensive of all trees—abound here, as do pines, cypresses and a panoply of different flowers and herbs including oregano, thyme, lavender, rosemary, roses and euphorbias. The end result is visually stunning and redolent with the aromas of a fragrant country garden—in fact it’s one of the best-smelling parks you’re likely to find in a big city. There’s also a lawn, canal, running track, outdoor gym, rental bikes, and a shiny new bike path. An elegant walkway carries you over the eight-lane coastal highway, uniting the park with the sea.
And what of the library itself? In a city where contemporary architecture has tended towards the gloomy, the grimy or the obtuse, what a joy to see something so well-designed, friendly, and inviting. The building’s simple, clean lines and rooftop park allow it to blend in with its environment and—notably—it adheres to Athens’ strict height requirements for buildings, appearing unusually squat and demure.
Inside, the bookcases pile several stories high in plain view. The library is particularly evocative when lit up at night, as the transparent exterior almost seems to fade away, as if symbolizing the dissolution of barriers between the public and the access to knowledge.
It does everything a modern library should do: a truly public place of reference, culture, and connection where simply hanging out is enough and your presence is not validated by spending money. Locals are notably enthusiastic about the complex, which has greatly ameliorated the surrounding area. It’s a popular meeting spot for Athenians and even lured tourists to a historic but little-known neighborhood. And it has already become a modern icon of the city: It is notable that when Barack Obama came to Athens in 2016, it was here he chose to give his obligatory speech about Greece and democracy.
The library hasn’t been without its critics. Some have bemoaned that the building is not monumental enough. Others have criticized it for being too understated, hiding beneath its rooftop park and solar panels. People love to complain, and perhaps they’re expressing an internalized shame which says that Athens can’t have nice things. I’m not sure that Athens needed another neoclassical library, nor a mothership-has-landed type of building. Personally, I enjoy the subtlety of the façade, which doesn’t impose its own rhetoric but allows you to forge your own connections with the building. Much contemporary architecture is proudly alienating. There’s something quietly radical about the warmth and coziness of Piano’s creation.
There are storm clouds brewing however. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has continued to cover the operating expenses of the complex long after it said it would, having hoped to turn it over to the local municipality shortly after inauguration (something which strikes fear into the heart of anyone acquainted with the public management of parks and buildings in Greece). In a recent, unusual intervention into Greek political affairs, the head of the foundation lashed out at the Greek state for a series of broken promises, including a pledge to build a metro station here (for the time being, the foundation continues to offer a free shuttle service between the complex and central Athens).
But the library remains a hopeful presence in a ravaged city, and symbolizes an Athens that doesn’t need to look ruefully to the past for its golden age. Perhaps Athens can actually lead the way for the first time in 2,000 years. Perhaps Athens can have nice things, after all.
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