Peristeri (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a city and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration,

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 ...

. With 133,630 inhabitants (2021 census), it ranks as the seventh-largest city and municipality in Greece by population.

History

The ancient

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

Leuconoe In Greek mythology, the name Leuconoe (; Ancient Greek: Λευκονόη, ) may refer to: *Leuconoe, one of the Minyads, more commonly known as Leucippe. *Leuconoe, daughter of Lucifer ( Eosphorus) and mother of Philammon by Apollo.Hyginus, ''F ...

, is believed to have been located at Peristeri.

Geography

Peristeri is located about northwest of the centre of Athens. It lies between the Egaleo Mountain in the northwest and the Cephissus river in the southeast. The municipality has an area of . Its built-up area is continuous with that of central Athens and the neighbouring suburbs

Aigaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( ) is a town and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens urban area, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo, whose name comes from the words αίγα/a ...

Chaidari HaidariFor the spelling, see thmunicipal website (, ''Chaidari'') is a suburban town in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, west of Athens city center. Geography The municipality has an area of 22.655 km2. The geography of the mu ...

Petroupoli Petroupoli (, meaning "city of stone") is a semi-mountainous town in Attica, in the west suburbs of Athens. Petroupoli was part of the community of Nea Liosia until 1946, when it became a separate community. It was elevated to municipality statu ...

, Ilion and

Agioi Anargyroi Agioi Anargyroi () is a suburban town in the north-central part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It takes its name from the " Holy Unmercenaries": saints who received no payment for their medical services. Since the 2011 local government ref ...

Transportation

The A1 motorway (Athens–Thessaloniki–Evzonoi) passes through the southeastern part of the municipality.

Athinon Avenue Athinon Avenue (also known as Kavalas Avenue) is an avenue linking west of downtown Athens at Achilleos Street and Konstantinopouleos Avenue and the Piraeus interchange with the road linking Skaramagkas and Piraeus. For its entire length exce ...

(

Greek National Road 8 Greek National Road 8 (, abbreviated as EO8, common name: old Athens-Patras national road) is a single carriageway with at-grade intersections in the Attica, Peloponnese and West Greece regions. It connects Athens with the cities of Corinth and ...

Athens-Korinthos-Patras) passes through the southwestern part. Peristeri is served by three

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 ...

stations on Line 2: Anthoupoli,

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a city and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 133,630 inhabitants (2021 census), ...

and Agios Antonios. The

Kifissos Bus Terminal Athens "Kifissos" Bus Station, also known as KTEL Kifissos Bus station, is the busiest intercity bus station in Athens. It is the largest bus terminal in Athens and the second-largest in Greece, the largest being the Thessaloniki "Macedonia" Inte ...

where long-distance buses from Peloponnese, Epirus, Macedonia, Ionian Islands and Thrace arrive, stands at the east border of Peristeri near

Sepolia Sepolia ( ) is a neighborhood in Athens, Greece. The Sepolia metro station is situated in the neighborhood. Sepolia owes to its name in the Greek phrase ''esopolis'' (έσω πόλις), which means "inside the city". Sepolia was a remote settleme ...

Historical population

Sports

The most important sport clubs based in Peristeri are

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskipou () was a Cy ...

with presence in

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

qualification rounds and

Peristeri BC Peristeri B.C., or Peristeri Athens B.C. (Greek language, Greek: Περιστερίου K.A.E.) is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Peristeri, Greece, which is both a city and a suburb in the western part of the Athens#Athen ...

, with long-time presence in

A1 Ethniki The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

basketball & in European competitions, such as the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA Europe's second level competition. Clubs mainly qualify based on their performance in national leagues an ...

Peristeri Arena

The Peristeri Arena (or

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

Arena) is an indoor basketball sporting arena. The

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of the arena is 4,000 people. The arena is owned by the municipality of Peristeri. The arena is currently home to the Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team Peristeri Athens of the Greek A1 League. The hall was opened in the year 1989. The arena is named after the late

, who was the former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of Greece. The arena is an older, smaller version of the

Larissa Neapolis Arena Larissa Neapolis Indoor Arena is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located in the city of Larissa, Greece, in the district of Larissa#Districts, Neapolis. The arena is used to host basketball and volleyball games. The arena is a part of the ...

and the

Dimitris Tofalos Arena Dimitris Tofalos Arena (alternate spelling: Dimitrios Tofalos Arena) is an indoor sports arena that is located in Proastio, Patras, Greece. The arena is named after the great Greek wrestling champion of the early 20th century, and gold medalist ...

, which were based on Peristeri Arena, but built 6 years later and with a larger

Landmarks

* Cathedral * Peristeri Arena *

Peristeri Stadium Peristeri Stadium (also known as the Atromitos Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Peristeri, a city and a suburb within the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that ...

* Town Hall

Culture

Peristeri has one municipal

outdoor cinema An outdoor cinema consists of a digital or analog movie projector, scaffolded construction or inflatable movie screen, and sound system. History In the summer of 1900, in Syntagma square, Athens, films were projected outdoors, in the cafés. ...

and four municipal

theatres Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communica ...

Economy at 1900s

On November 5, 1933, the establishment of the company "Lignitoryheia Attikis S.A." was announced, with the aim of exploiting the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

deposits in the area. Mining began two years later.

Notable people

Angela Dimitriou Angeliki Kiourtsaki (; born 18 August 1954), known as Angela Dimitriou (, ), is a Greek singer. She is one of the top 10 most popular and commercially successful Greek female singers, with album sales reaching 1.5 million in Greece and 2.4 milli ...

, singer * Evangelos Koronios, professional basketball player and coach *

Giannis Poulopoulos Giannis Poulopoulos (Greek: Γιάννης Πουλόπουλος, a.k.a. John Poulopoulos; 29 June 1941 – 23 August 2020) was a Greek singer-songwriter, who had several hits in Greece during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. In terms of total al ...

, singer-songwriter *

Grigoris Bithikotsis Grigoris Bithikotsis (Greek Γρηγόρης Μπιθικώτσης, ; December 11, 1922 – April 7, 2005) was a Greek folk singer/songwriter with a career spanning five decades. He is considered one of the most important figures in Greek popular ...

(1922–2005), singer and songwriter * Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou (born 1986),

Pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

athlete *

Vangelis Ploios Vangelis Ploios (; November 13, 1937 – February 21, 2020) was a Greek theatrical, film and television actor. Biography He was born in Peristeri northwest of Athens on November 13, 1937. He studied classic ballet at Elli Zouroudi's school. He ...

, actor *

Vangelis Mantzaris Evangelos "Vangelis" Mantzaris (Greek language, Greek: Ευάγγελος "Βαγγέλης" Μάντζαρης; born April 16, 1990) is a Greek professional basketball player for Mykonos B.C., Mykonos of the Greek A2 Basket League, Greek A2 Elit ...

, basketball player *Leonidas Michailidis, brain surgeon * Orfeas Tzortzopoulos, drummer of

Suicidal Angels Suicidal Angels are a Greek thrash metal band formed in 2001 in Athens, Greece, by guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Nick Melissourgos. Since its inception, the band has released eight studio albums, and has gone through several line-up chan ...

* Argiris Pedoulakis, professional basketball player and coach * *

Konstantinos Argiros Konstantinos Argiros (; ; born 21 May 1986) is a Greek singer. His discography includes numerous successful singles and albums. Argyros has released several albums, five of which have achieved Platinum status. ''Osa Niotho'' (2014) and ''To Kati ...

, singer

International relations

Peristeri is twinned with: * Iaşi,

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Attica Populated places in West Athens (regional unit)