Major updates to a pedestrian and vehicle underpass on Syngrou Avenue at the crossing of Davaki Street, between the Municipalities of N. Smyrni and Kallithea, will feature work from Cacao Rocks. The idea is to beautify the underpass and pay respect to the tragedy that took place in Smyrna 100 years ago. The painting pays tribute to Smyrna with portraits of Dida Sotiriou and words by the famous poet Giorgos Seferis. Cacao Rocks’ work was featured at the 2022 Gabby Awards in New York City.
The new crossing was inaugurated by the Regional Governor of Attica, G. Patoulis, who announced the name: “as a sign of memory and honor, it was named the ‘Chrysostomos Smyrna’ Pedestrian Crossing.” At the small ceremony that took place, the Deputy Regional Governor for Culture, X. Romas, recited verses from Seferis’ poem “The house near the sea. “
The goal of the Attica Region is to update the underpasses and make them brighter and cleaner. Old lighting was also fixed to make the underpass safer, a new floor was constructed, and two elevators for people with mobility problems will be installed.
During his greeting, the Regional Governor G. Patoulis pointed out:
“Upgrading the road network of Attica, especially in high traffic areas and protecting pedestrians and drivers, has always been a high priority for the administration of the Attica Region. With stable planning and utilizing every available resource, we invested in extensive asphalt pavements, in new lighting networks, friendly to the environment, but also in new alignments, creation of green islands, parapets and smart crossings, with the aim of creating a modern road network in all central arteries of the Region, safe, functional and aesthetically upgraded. From our comprehensive policy, the special care for the protection of pedestrians, the most vulnerable section of road users, especially children, could not be missing. of the elderly and our fellow citizens with mobility or vision problems. Utilizing NSRF resources, we are delivering six modern footbridges in places where serious accidents have occurred, while at the same time we have a 1 million euro fund for the program of the Directorate of Metropolitan Infrastructure Management of the Region of Attica, for the implementation of interventions to upgrade and renovate underground passages, an extremely useful section of our road network, which for decades had fallen into abandonment and disrepair. Today we have the pleasure of being at one of these crossings on Syngrou Avenue, the road with the most pedestrian crossings in Attica, in order to unveil an original artistic intervention. We chose to present this intervention on a symbolic day: today we commemorate the International Day of Remembrance and Dignity for the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, established by the UN – a day that awakens in Hellenism memories of unspeakable horror, as the perpetrators of the massacre of the Greeks of Asia Minor – the very ones responsible for the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus and the Armenian brothers in 1915, but also for the open wound of the Cypriot in 1974 – they remain not only unpunished, but also eternally defiant against the integrity and independence of our Greece. As a sign of memory and honor, we have chosen today to name this crossing the “Chrysostomos Smyrna” Pedestrian Crossing, a small tribute to the sacrifice of the great National Martyr, who did not cower in the face of the horrible death that was in store for him by the hordes of miscreants of Kemal, in order to defend with courage and heroism the ideals of the nation. Because for us a modern and functional network of sustainable urban transport is not complete if it is not completely accessible to all citizens, without exclusions, without any exceptions whatsoever. And this is our firm will and unwavering commitment, in the context of our efforts to make Attica a humane Region, first in smart, human- and environment-friendly urban transportation.”
Click here to learn more about the burning of Smyrna.
