Exarcheia Square is located in the

Exarcheia Exarcheia ( ) is a neighbourhood in central Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th-century businessman named Exarchos () who opened a large general store t ...

neighborhood of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and it is considered the center of the neighborhood. The square is a gathering place for people of all ages, but especially young people, and many activities organized by anti-authoritarian or

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

groups take place there. The center of the square was decorated until September 2022 by a sculpture called "''Τρεις Έρωτες''" ("''Three Loves''"), dated back to 1909. The sculpture was removed due to the works for the construction of a metro station for the Line 4 of the

Athens metro The Athens Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the Athens urban area in Greece. Line 1 opened as a single-track conventional steam railway in 1869 and was electrified in 1904. Beginning in 1991, Elliniko Metro S.A. constructed and ext ...

. The construction of the aforementioned station has sparked controversies and a series of protests against it, on grounds of destroying part of the area's few green spaces and contributing to the

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

of a historically politically active neighborhood.

References

{{Reflist Squares in Athens