Old Royal Palace, Parliament building in Athens, Greece
The Old Royal Palace is a long, symmetrical neoclassical building on Syntagma Square, faced in yellow-ochre stone. A projecting central portico of six columns carries a row of windows and a triangular pediment with a flagpole; the rusticated lower storey has a relief carving at its centre, and a low balustrade runs along the flat roofline. Two equal side wings flank the centre, and the whole is built of stone from Hymettus, Lycabettus and Penteli, with marble and Evia wood.
Friedrich von Gärtner designed the palace between 1836 and 1843 as a residence for King Otto, the first monarch of independent Greece. After a fire in 1909, the building was reconstructed and has served as the seat of the Hellenic Parliament since 1929.
The western entrance attracts visitors who come to watch the changing ceremony of the Evzones guards wearing traditional uniforms with white kilts and red caps. These costumes recall the Greek independence fighters and connect the building to national identity through daily ritual.
The parliament building sits directly on Syntagma Square in central Athens and is within walking distance from most city neighborhoods. Some rooms and exhibitions are open to visitors, while the ceremony in front of the entrance can be watched from the square at any time.
During construction in the late 1830s, residents from several Greek islands volunteered their labor without requesting payment. Their participation reflected the widespread enthusiasm for building the new independent state and its royal residence.
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