The destruction of the tombs must be halted
Some time ago (two years or more), the Athenian Monument Protection Committee (EPAM) approved the construction of some simple perforated cement structures designed by the municipality’s architect to be used as open ossuaries [in the Athens First Cemetery]. The structures were to be placed around the wall of the cemetery. All of a sudden, and without any prior approval by EPAM, similar structures were placed in central locations in the cemetery (to the right of the main entrance and behind the Chapel of Aghios Lazaros, for instance), breaking up the continuity of the space and marring its aesthetics. The matter is very serious, and I hope Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis and Deputy Mayor Athanassios Kafezas, who is the president of EPAM, will immediately stop this intervention. Let’s not forget that the First Cemetery of Athens has been listed for preservation in its entirety, and that every guide to the city suggests visiting it. We have destroyed the city of the living; let’s at least protect that of the dead. Maro Kardamitsi-Adami is an architect.
