The Room of Strength

At the Onassis Hospital, next to the waiting area, there is a room unlike any other. Visual artist Nikomachi Karakonstanoglou has created a space for those moments when one needs a breath to carry on, a moment to reflect, a respite to rise up again. It was conceived thinking of the demanding hours of doctors and staff on duty, for visitors seeking relief from anxiety for their loved ones, and for patients who want to stop for a moment and consider what an examination, a surgery, or a battle for their life means to them. A space shaped like a womb with a crystal resting at its center, a vast crystal that journeyed from the depths of the earth in Brazil to Arizona and from there to Athens, and was shaped into a sculpture taking the form of the organ of a heart, a symbol of strength and calm, beauty and healing. Lighting by Eliza Alexandropoulou traces its own path, echoing the hours of day and night, shifting slowly like another sun that sets and rises.

The soundscape, created by Afroditi Panagiotakou and Manolis Manousakis, serves the need for quiet and solace, offering respite from the noise of the hospital environment and transporting visitors to moments of ease. It weaves in sounds of nature from Messinia and Epirus; cicadas, scops owls, and gentle sounds of the sea to soothe the mind.

A room of strength, a place of reflection and focus, easing the weight of painful thoughts. Nikomachi Karakonstanoglou created a work for all that is human, for all of us, for each of us, and above all for those experiencing pain, their own or that of others. Here, art becomes truly public, truly human, appearing where you least expect it, perhaps capable of working its own small miracle.

The Room of Strength, a name given by the head nurse of the Onassis Hospital one evening during its preparation, is always open and accessible to everyone.