Gyzi ( ) is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

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 ...

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 ...

Etymology

The area was named around 1925 after famous painter

Nikolaos Gyzis Nikolaos Gyzis ( ; ; 1 March 1842 – 4 January 1901) is considered one of Greece's most important 19th century painters. He was most famous for his work ''Eros and the Painter'', his first genre painting. It was auctioned in May 2006 at Bonhams ...

. By all rights, the neighbourhood should have been called Γύζη (). However, because he signed his paintings using the Latin alphabet (as he lived in Germany for a time period), this was reabsorbed into the Greek language with the current spelling and pronunciation.

History and amenities

Gyzi was rapidly urbanised during the 1960s and 1970s. On 15 May 1985 a shootout between Christos Tsoutsouvis (a far-left militant) and one of his accomplices on the one side and the police on the other side took place in the neighbourhood of Gyzi, resulting in four deaths. The nearest metro stations are Ampelokipi and Panormou ( line 3) and Victoria ( line 1). It is popular among Greeks for having a strong base of Panathinaikos fans, one of the most historical Greek athletic clubs. This is mostly due to its geographical proximity to the

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 1922 and is the oldest currently active football stadium in ...

, the traditional home field of

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', ), is a Greek professional Association football, footbal ...

. Gyzi used to have a small river, the Vafeiochori, which was situated where Vafeiochoriou street is today. Local teams include Gyziakos, Panellinios and Anagennisi Gkyzi-Polygono. There are two primary schools and four high schools in the area.

References

Neighbourhoods in Athens {{Athens-geo-stub