Georgiou I Square () is the central square of
Patras
Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
The square is named after King
George I of Greece
George I ( Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, romanized: ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination on 18 March 1913.
Originally a Danish prince, George was born in Copenhage ...
. It is crossed by Maizonos, Korinthou and Gerokostopoulou streets. The
neoclassical Apollon Theatre is situated on the northeast side of the square.
History
Georgiou I Square was built under the
Kapodistrias government as a part of the 1829 plans by
Stamatis Voulgaris to rebuild the devastated centre of Patras after the
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...
. Unlike the old city, the new city was built according to a
grid plan
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
with several large squares.
The square has been renamed several times: Dimokratias at first, then Kalamogdarti, Othonos, Kentriki, Thomopoulou, Ethniki, Palligenesias and since 1863 ''Georgiou I''. In the square there are two fountains, constructed in Denmark.
Gallery
Image:Patrascentralsquare.JPG, Georgiou I Square in the early 20th century
File:Patra1910.jpg, The square in 1910
File:Patras City 02.jpg, Detail of the one fountain
File:Patras - panoramio (1).jpg, A view
File:Ι.Ναός Αγ.Ανδρέα 06.jpg, View
File:Apollon Theatre, Patra (2).jpg, Apollon Theatre
References
*''The first version of the article is translated and is based from the
article at the Greek Wikipedia (
el:Main Page)''
{{Streets and squares in Patras
Streets and squares in Patras
Tourist attractions in Patras
Neoclassical architecture in Greece
George I of Greece