Dionysos Restaurant, Philopappou Hill

Filopappou Hill, 1961-62

Architect
Prokopios (Kopis) Vassiliadis (1912-1977)
Associate architects
Giorgos Bogdanos (1926-)
Savvas Contaratos (1933-)
P. Vasilakis (1929-)



The Dionysos restaurant and refreshment centre is an original creation by Prokopios Vassiliadis, who dominated the architectural and town planning world in the Greek capital from the late 1950s up to his death. Vassiliadis was then head of the Housing Service of the Ministry of Public Works; it was he who ensured that the project of landscaping the archaeological site around the Acropolis and Filopappou Hill was assigned to his teacher, Dimitris Pikionis.
The Dionysos restaurant, having been built at the foot of Filopappou Hill, has a superb view of the Acropolis on the opposite slope. The restaurant is laid out in steps on various levels in order to integrate it into the natural terrain and to take advantage of the view. Together with the main building, the various semi-outdoor spaces and terraces form a central atrium. Stylistically, the building is an original combination of the code of modern architecture with allusions to the Greek architectural tradition through characteristic motifs and materials. Of particular interest is the decoration of the interior and exterior space by two artists: painter Yannis Moralis and ceramicist Eleni Vernardaki.
Subsequent additions and renovations, such as the replacement of the marble flooring that had been designed by Moralis on the atrium, have downgraded the building aesthetically.

TRANSPORTATION