05 Dec Wandering Amongst Street Art in Athens

It’s that time again. Time for more street art photos—as I’ve said before, Athens is filled with street art, and supposedly has one of the largest displays in the world. Although initially, street art can make a place seem unsafe and gritty, that’s definitely not always the case, as shown through the street art in Athens.

From what I heard, the street art scene began to take hold around 1992 and exploded during the economic crisis as a way to protest and conquer public space. And now, many shop owners commission artists to paint their buildings so they can be filled with art rather than a more general tagging by someone who just wants to leave their mark.

Street art can be found in most areas of Athens, but you will find a large concentration of painted buildings in the Psirri, Monastiraki and Exarchia neighborhoods. There is even some graffiti on the ruins, which was disturbing to see—I’m all for unique art in fun places, but defacing ancient historic sites is not cool in my book. I suppose there is always a fine line between art and destroying property. But, I digress.

A couple of our friends went on a street art tour, and it sounded very intriguing as their guide was an artist who actually painted a number of the pieces throughout the city. He knew the back-stories of many pieces, and gave them a better look into the history of the cities art.

While we didn’t take a tour, we found ample art everywhere we walked. However, I wish we had researched the best neighborhoods prior to setting out on our walk, as we missed a large portion of the popular murals. Here’s a look into the photos we managed to snap while wandering around. Hopefully next time we visit we can find even more!

Do you enjoy finding street art, too? Have you had the chance to see the street art in Athens?