A New Lighting Identity for Athens’ Historic Promenade

The Onassis Foundation has handed over the upgraded street lighting along Dionysiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou Streets to the City of Athens. Designed by Eleftheria Deko, the project blends discreetly into the monumental and natural landscape surrounding the Sacred Rock, highlighting the route and enriching the experience of an evening walk.

The project was handed over to the City of Athens by the President of the Onassis Foundation, Anthony S. Papadimitriou, on Monday, October 5, symbolically bringing to a close a series of major interventions in the Acropolis area aimed at highlighting the area and its surroundings, improving accessibility, and enhancing the experience of residents and visitors alike.

Representatives from the political and institutional spheres, as well as journalists, attended the event, and opening remarks were delivered by Mr. Anthony S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation; Ms. Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture; Mr. Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens; and Ms. Eleftheria Deko.

Mr. Anthony S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation, stated: “The new lighting along Dionysiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou Streets concerns one of Athens’ most important public spaces, a place where history is part of the city’s everyday life. For the Onassis Foundation, highlighting cultural heritage is always inseparable from access: ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to experience and enjoy this shared space.

Our collaboration with Eleftheria Deko continues with this project, guided by the same sensitivity toward the historic and natural environment that has characterized our previous work together. The lighting of the Acropolis, the improvements to accessibility on the Sacred Rock, and the tactile route all express the same philosophy we share at the Onassis Foundation: that culture is a matter of democracy and cultural heritage must be open to everyone. Our longstanding collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the City of Athens is instrumental in making initiatives such as these a reality.”

Ms. Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture, stated: “One of Athens’ most iconic landmarks, the Grand Promenade, perhaps the capital’s best-loved urban route, has been given new lighting and, with it, a new character. The Grand Promenade is not merely a tour of successive monuments, but a journey through a genuine cultural and social environment, offering a panorama of the city’s evolution over the centuries.

Today, six years after the new lighting installation on the Sacred Rock, a cycle effectively comes to a close with the completion of the new lighting along the streets surrounding it. Once again, this was made possible through a donation from the Onassis Foundation, and once again bears the vision and expertise of Eleftheria Deko. The street lighting was designed around a fundamental principle of minimal intervention and with absolute respect for the area’s unique monumental character.”

Mr. Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens, stated: “The promenade around the Acropolis is one of the most recognizable routes in the world. It is a place where Athenians and visitors walk alongside history. It is where the contemporary city encounters its memory at every step. And such a landmark needs light. Not light that imposes itself, but light that highlights. Light that enters into dialogue with its surroundings and, above all, respects them. Eleftheria Deko’s work is founded precisely on this balance and coexistence. The City of Athens welcomes this important project and assumes responsibility for its care. Because for us, a project is not complete the moment it is handed over. Its value is judged over time: by how we maintain it, how we protect it, and how we integrate it into the city’s everyday life. I would like to extend my special thanks to the Onassis Foundation and, personally, to its President, Mr. Anthony S. Papadimitriou, for his vision and for the creative and meaningful partnership with the City of Athens.”

Lighting designer Ms. Eleftheria Deko commented: “Dionysiou Areopagitou–Apostolou Pavlou: I don’t think there is any other street in the world with a view like this, one that has moved poets and ordinary passersby alike to such an extent. And while the poets speak of natural light—since once there was no other kind—we dared, through artificial light, to evoke in the nighttime scene something of the emotion they describe. With the same respect and restraint that guided our work on the monuments in 2020, our primary concern in approaching the route that now surrounds them was to introduce no unnecessary elements and to ensure that views of the monuments remained unobstructed. The lighting is provided by fixtures mounted on five-meter-high poles, whose simple design gives them a timeless quality, and finished in a custom sand color so they remain discreet during daylight hours. The light is warm, like that illuminating the city walls, and its intensity is carefully calibrated so as not to compete with that of the Acropolis and its monuments. Pleasant and sufficient for a carefree evening stroll with friends or the nighttime contemplation of a solitary walker, the light does not disrupt our connection with the ancient past, but brings it closer to the present.”

Lighting the Historic Route

This intervention builds on previous projects in the area designed by Eleftheria Deko and implemented with the support of the Onassis Foundation. In 2020, Deko designed the new lighting for the Sacred Rock and its monuments, a Ministry of Culture project carried out through a donation and commission from the Onassis Foundation. More recently, she also designed the lighting for the sculpture of C. P. Cavafy on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, created by sculptor Praxitelis Tzanoulinos.

The new lighting scheme was designed to enhance the route around the Acropolis with the minimum possible intervention and with respect for the area’s unique monumental landscape. A total of 125 new lighting poles were installed, 106 in existing locations and just 19 in new ones, all positioned on the building side of the streets so that views toward the Parthenon remain unobstructed. Their design is simple and discreet, in a custom sand-colored finish that allows them to blend harmoniously into their surroundings and enter into a visual dialogue with the stone and materials of the monuments.

At certain points, the lighting was designed to frame elements of the archaeological landscape to best effect. Low-level lighting fixtures were also installed along the side path on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street and on Theorias Street, improving lighting levels, while subtle landscape lighting was introduced in areas that had previously remained dark. As part of the intervention, the project also illuminated archaeological remains for the first time, including the Roman cistern just before the entrance to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The new lighting fixtures have a long service life, and the relevant City of Athens services can remotely monitor and adjust their operation. Special lenses and accessories help minimize glare and light pollution, achieving greater uniformity while enhancing safety and the experience of the route without allowing the light to overshadow the landscape itself.

Completing a Cycle of Interventions in the Acropolis Area

This project marks the culmination of a broader series of initiatives that the Onassis Foundation has undertaken and supported in the Acropolis area over the past six years, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the City of Athens, and the relevant institutional bodies. These interventions include the upgraded lighting of the monuments and the Sacred Rock (2020), the installation of a modern inclined elevator (2020), and the improvements to routes for people with mobility impairments (2020). These were followed by the creation of a tactile route and specially designed visitor aids for people with visual impairments (2022), as well as the installation of a new roping system at the Acropolis archaeological site (2022–2023), which included the design, construction, and installation of new seating, waste bins, and lighting fixture bases. In 2023, the Foundation supported works to improve stormwater management on the Acropolis and its North Slope, while upgrades to active and passive safety measures were completed in 2023–2024. With the completion of the intervention along Dionysiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou Streets, this commitment now extends beyond the Sacred Rock itself to the historic promenade that surrounds it.

From protecting monuments and infrastructure to improving accessibility and visitors’ everyday experience of public spaces, these interventions reflect a consistent philosophy of the Onassis Foundation: cultural heritage takes on its fullest meaning when it remains alive, visible, and in constant dialogue with the city and society.