11
MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN THE (RE)MAKING OF HISTORY
Schools and Museums in G eece
C is ina Pallini
Dipa imen o di A chi e u a, Ingegne ia delle Cos uzioni e Ambien e Cos ui o,
Poli ecnico di Milano / Depa men o A chi ec u e, Buil En i onmen and Cons uc ion
Enginee ing, Poli ecnico di Milano, Milan, I aly
Abs ac
Challenging he long-es ablished idea o he Medi e anean as he c adle o mode n
a chi ec u e, his con ibu ion a gues ha due conside a ion should be gi en o momen s
o p o ound change, he eby spli ing he Medi e anean in o i s agmen s. We may hus
es o e o i s ex ao dina y ci ies he many and a ied a chi ec u al adi ions ha we e
able o nu u e and blend: he much-deba ed medi e anei à (Medi e anei y) u ns ou
o be a less ‘monoli hic’ in i s exp ession.
Along his line o hough s, schools and museums buil in G eece om 1923 o he
a e ma h o WWII may well e eal he ole o a chi ec u e, when called upon o exp ess
he ounding alues o a collec i e iden i y. The dialec ic be ween adi ion and
inno a ion, eclec icism and mode nism, unco e s i s meaning case by case.
Keywo ds: mode n a chi ec u e, Medi e anean, school, museum, G eece
Eu ocen ic pe spec i es on he Medi e anean
In oducing O ien alism as he sys em o Wes e n ins i u ions es ablished o
claim an economic, poli ical and mili a y hegemony o e he O ien , Edwa d Said
(1978: 3) also decoded he mechanisms o his cul u al coloniza ion, hus
ma king a u ning poin in he monumen al his o y o he Medi e anean wo ld
na a ed by Fe nand B audel (1977). Acco ding o some schola s, he
Medi e anean may e en be unde s ood as a “scien i ic in en ion,” whose uni a y
concep ion was a by-p oduc o F ench expedi ions o Egyp , he Peloponnese
and Alge ia (Bou gue , Lepe i , No dman & Sina ellis, 1998).
Benede o G a agnuolo (1994) and, mo e ecen ly, Jean-F ançois Lejeune and
Michelangelo Saba ino (2010), ou lined an “a chi ec u al genealogy” o he
C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y
12
Mode n Mo emen ’s engagemen wi h he Medi e anean and i s e e yday
e nacula .
Meanwhile, ecen s udies on he wo k o non-mains eam Eu opean a chi ec s,
enginee s and builde s ac oss he Medi e anean ha e opened new ho izons in
esea ch, ques ioning he meaning, and in lec ion, o mode n a chi ec u e in he
di e en con ex s whe e i ook oo s.1
The impo ance o he Medi e anean as a key des ina ion o subsequen
gene a ion o young a chi ec s om di e en backg ounds emains an e e g een
subjec (Bon an e, 2014; Di Lo e o, 2018), whose cons an e m o e e ence is
he cha isma ic igu e o Le Co busie (Bonillo & Monnie , 1991; G a agnuolo,
1997). Placing side by side he wo ks by Le Co busie , Pie e Jeanne e , Fe nand
Pouillon and Al a o Siza, he exhibi ion Domus Ma e Nos um - Habi e le my he
médi e anéen (Bonillo, 2014) emphasised once again he inex icable link
be ween mode n a chi ec u e and he Medi e anean. Howe e , he
“Medi e anean adi ion” in o which he wo k o Le Co busie is in e wo en
seems all bu monoli hic. When iden i ying Le Co busie ’s guiding s a s, J.-L.
Bonillo (1997) ga e Is anbul equal oo ing wi h he Pa henon. Adol Max Vog
(1996) a gued ha he Voyage d’O ien - and O oman a chi ec u e - le a
pe manen ma k on he mas e who, acco ding o Yo gos Simeo o idis (1997),
was deeply ascina ed by Byzan ine a chi ec u e in he enchan ing landscape o
Moun A hos and he G eek islands.
CIAM IV and he new G eek schools!
In he summe o 1933, CIAM membe s s a ed hei sea oyage ac oss he
Medi e anean om Ma seille o A hens, whe e Le Co busie u e ed he amous
wo ds “ he Ac opolis made me a ebel” (Le Co busie , 1933). La e on, hey
sailed o he Cyclades and, almos unexpec edly, ound adi ional houses
1 The con e ence “C ossing Bounda ies. Re hinking Eu opean a chi ec u e beyond Eu ope”,
Pale mo, 13-16 Ap il 2014, p o ided he au ho wi h an oppo uni y o ake good s ock o esea ch
in he ield.
Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e
Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018
13
embodying he same imeless a chi ec u al solu ions hey had been wo king ou
o a decade o so: iconic combina ion o pu e olumes, la oo s and whi e
walls wi hou deco a ion.
Back in A hens, CIAM membe s isi ed some newly buil schools designed by
young G eek a chi ec s: dissymme ical composi ions, unc ional layou s, a
geome y o pu e olumes in pe ec ha mony wi h he A ic landscape. Local
newspape s p oudly epo ed on hei commen s o admi a ion (Giacumaca os &
Godoli,1985: 9-10). Acco ding o Pie e Cha eau, a he han copying wes e n
p ojec s, G eeks a chi ec s had ound hei own pa h o mode n a chi ec u e in
esponse o he local clima e. Wha is su e is ha he scale o in e en ion and
speed o execu ion - despi e limi ed echnical and inancial means - ma ked an
undeniable success o he new schools, which achie ed conside able p ess
co e age and a ac ed much schola ly wo k e e since.
Howe e , i canno pass unno iced he co espondence be ween he G eek
go e nmen engagemen in such massi e school building p og amme and he
a i al in G eece o 1,300,000 e ugees om Asia Mino ,!almos one ou h o he
o al popula ion a he ime.
Following he G eco-Tu kish Wa , he T ea y o Lausanne (July 1923) had
a i ied he compulso y exchange o popula ions be ween G eece and Tu key,
c ea ing a e ugee p oblem on a scale un il hen unknown, in egions al eady
acing a demog aphic eshu ling. The p esence o Asia Mino e ugees led o an
ex ensi e economic de elopmen p og amme unded by o eign loans, while
hei se lemen became pa o he na ion-building p ocess.
As he place whe e, by lea ning G eek, a new cul u al iden i y was o be o ged,
he school became a “domina ing heme”2 (Sedlmay , 1948) somehow
complemen a y o he chu ch, and o en equipped wi h a combina ion o indoo
and ou doo acili ies, unc ional and collec i e spaces o ming a so o
mic ocosm.
2 Sedlmay sugges s ha , h oughou his o y, some a chi ec u al hemes acqui ed pa icula
impo ance, a ac ing he bes c ea i e ene gies and p o iding a common g ound – a cen e - o
all igu a i e a s.
C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y
14
Pa oklos Ka an inos, who designed up o o y schools (mos o which ac ually
buil ) dedica ed a book o he new school buildings (1938), ye selec ing he
mos esponsi e o he mode nis canon. E en so, and despi e he limi ed
numbe o examples,3 he book s ill con eys he pionee ing e o made by
G eek a chi ec s o mo e beyond he cons ain s imposed by he Minis y o
Educa ion, who supe ised design, cons uc ion and cons uc ion managemen .
The main quali y o hese buildings lays in hei depic ing wha a mode n school
could be in illages, owns, and la ge u ban cen e s in di e en egions o
G eece. Ce ainly, no e e y school an icipa ed mode n a chi ec u e. Young
G eek a chi ec s we e seeking a balance be ween local aes he ic idioms and he
clean o ms heo ized by he Mode n Mo emen . Some beau i ul schools did
ea u e simpli ied eclec ic o ms, bea ing a angible e e ence o he a ious
a chi ec u al adi ions hen s ill i al in G eece.
New schools o a new Thessaloniki
I Pa is II had con inued his jou ney u he Eas , CIAM pa icipan s we e o
con empla e he uins o Thessaloniki and Smy na, namely he end o he
mul ie hnic O oman empi e wi h i s cosmopoli an po -ci ies. To Pie e La edan,
he econs uc ion o Thessaloniki in G eece posed on a scale un il hen unknown
he p oblem o he ci y, as a wo k o a chi ec u e (La edan, 1922).
Consequen ly, Thessaloniki may be conside ed a special obse a o y, because
he building o new schools was pa o a wide p ocess o ci y econs uc ion
(Ye olympos, 1995). Capi al o he so-called New Lands acqui ed a e he
Balkan Wa s (1911-13), he ci y had been des oyed by i e in Augus 1917 and,
by 1926, i s G eek popula ion had mo e han doubled.
3 The o al numbe o schools buil , unde cons uc ion, o planned, in 1931 eached almos 3000
(Giacumaca os & Godoli,1985: 6).
Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e
Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018
15
The Me le i Hané school complex (1926) designed by Nikos Mi sakis was buil
on he a ea p e iously occupied by he monas e y o Me le i De ishes (1615)
which had long been a spi i ual cen e o he Muslim communi y. He e Mi sakis
s a ed expe imen ing wi h elemen s o Byzan ine a chi ec u e - a ches,
columns, capi als – simpli ied and adap ed o become pa o a mode n
composi ion. Neo-Byzan ine was o cha ac e ise he ci y ising om i s ashes
ollowing Heb a d’s econs uc ion plan, ma king a clea b eak wi h he O oman
pas o ecap u e i s Hellenic iden i y.
Figu e 1. Nikos Mi sakis, Aghia So ia school complex, 1928-
32 ( igh ) and Seconda y School o Gi ls, 1933 (le ),
Thessaloniki (au ho ’s econs uc ion).
In he Aghia So ia school complex (1928-32), Mi sakis ho e ed be ween a
mode nis olume ic syn ax and an eclec ic lexicon, ein e p e ing Byzan ine
elemen s as simple colou ed olumes. By adop ing a wo-cou ya ds layou , he
a anged he elemen a y school, he gymnasium and he Jewish schools so ha
hey migh be accessed independen ly, lea ing he esul ing a eas o open-ai
ac i i ies, one o which di ec ly acing on o he s ee eaching he nea by chu ch
o Aghìa So ia. Mi sakis ques ioned he ole o he school as gene a i e u ban
elemen a a ime o g ea e hno-social ins abili y (Da ques, 2000), when he
ci y a ound i was also being buil .

C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y
16
A ew blocks away, Dimi is Pikionis designed he Model Expe imen al School o
he A is o le Uni e si y o Thessaloniki, es ablished in 1934 o mee he needs
and demands o a new socie y o come. The school ea u es a se ies o
a icula ed olumes a ound a s eep u ban block, as so o “Macedonian
dio ama” wi h a cou ya d on wo le els a i s cen e.
Wi h his building, Dimi is Pikionis exempli ied his idea o “ e-in en ion”:
Fo m is he esul o many e o s by many souls. A chi ec s should no
in en sho -li ed o ms, hey should ins ead " e-in en " exis ing o ms o
mee ou cu en needs. Fo m can join ou souls in an ideal symbol. Bu
his is no a one man ask: his canno begin and end wi h he wo k o a
single pe son. A chi ec s and a is s should no in en epheme al o ms,
a he should hey ein e p e he pe ec o ms o adi ion in line wi h
cu en needs and cons ain s. This is no jus a men al exe cise, i also
in ol es emo ions. A ex om ancien G eece desc ibes h ee kind o
c ea ions: a) he "backwa d-looking c ea ion" indica ing ou link o he
pas ; b) he "p e iden c ea ion" indica ing ou way o dealing wi h he
p esen and c) he "lo able c ea ion" indica ing ou eelings as opposi e
and complemen a y o logic. These h ee de ini ions ha e been b ough
oge he . The “in e na ional” implying he ela ionship be ween di e en
aces mus come o e ms wi h he “na ional” mani es ing he
dis inguishing cha ac e o each ace. (Pikionis, 1991: 6).
A che ypes and he mode n lexicon: wo museums by P. Ka an inos
While Hans Sedlmay included he museum among he mode n "domina ing
hemes" (Sedlmay , 1948), Lewis Mum o d de ined museums as u ban
ins i u ions pa excellence (Mum o d, 1975: 639). Benedic Ande son
emphasised he i al ole o museums in he sel - ep esen a ional na a i e o
ising na ion s a es (And eson, 1983). F om a non-eu ocen ic pe spec i e,
museums p o ide an ex ao dina y oppo uni y o decode he dialec ic be ween
eclec icism and mode nism, adi ion and inno a ion, unco e ing i s meaning
Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e
Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018
17
case by case. In many cases, museums became ins umen al in dissocia ing he
p esen om he ecen pas and selec ing om his o y a pas ha could bes
consolida e an idealized ision o he u u e.
A key igu e in he deba e abou new school buildings, Pa oklos Ka an inos also
leads us o he hea o he deba e on mode n museum a chi ec u e, in cons an
a ension be ween place and abs ac ion, be ween oo edness and expo able
lessons. Ka an inos was among he ounding membe s o he G eek g oup o
CIAM (1932), and played a decisi e pa in connec ing G eek a chi ec s wi h he
cen al Eu opean Mode n Mo emen (Giacumaca os, 2003; Fessas-Emmanouil,
2005). Bo n in Cons an inople o Ke alonian pa en s, Ka an inos s udied
a chi ec u e a A hens Poly echnic a a ime when he newly ounded Facul y o
A chi ec u e was de ining i s cul u al o ien a ion. In A hens, Ka an inos was
in oduced o adi ional a chi ec u e by Dimi is Pikionis. On mo ing o Pa is
ins ead (1927), he became amilia wi h he wo k o Augus e Pe e
(collabo a ing wi h him o a ew mon hs), Tony Ga nie and Le Co busie . Back
in G eece, Ka an inos ook an ac i e pa in he local deba e. An example o his
mili an a i ude is his objec ion o he idea o housing he new Pa liamen in he
old Royal Palace, o which he p oposed con e sion in o a cen al museum
complex (1929).
Figu e 2. Pa oklos Ka an inos, model o scale o he
Olympia a chaeological museum ( i s solu ion), ca. 1952
( om Giacumaca os, 2003).
C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y
18
In 1933, Ka an inos seized he oppo uni y o A hens’ in e na ional exposu e o
show CIAM delega es his school a he ee o he Ac opolis. In 1934, while
p epa ing he book abou he new schools, he o ganized he Fi s Exhibi ion o
Mode n A chi ec u e in G eece.
Ka an inos’ ea ly museum p ojec s a A gos (1936) and Co u (1938) we e
ollowed by o he commissions a e he Second Wo ld Wa , when he was called
upon o s udy he ex ension o majo Na ional museums – a I aklion and A hens
– and design new a chaeological museums a Olympia (1952-66) and
Thessaloniki (1960-62).
The ci il wa (1946-49), and a p olonged economic c isis, ende ed he G eek
a e ma h o Wo ld Wa II e en mo e c i ical han elsewhe e.
A ha c i ical junc u e, mos G eek a chi ec s joined uncondi ionally mode n
a chi ec u e (Doumanis, 1984), whe eas Ka an inos – in de ining he ypological
and unc ional cha ac e o his museums p ojec s - con inued explo ing he
a che ypes o classical a chi ec u e. When wo king a he Olympia p ojec , he
e lec ed upon he “dis inguishing cha ac e ” o museums in Medi e anean
coun ies (Ka an inos, 1954). Recalling a ip o Olympia on a clea win e
mo ning, he a gued ha wo ks like he pedimen s o he emple o Zeus, he
Nike o Paionios o he He mes o P axi eles we e o iginally c ea ed in o he
ligh . I locked inside, hese wo ks we e o appea as ozen Ti ans dep i ed o
e e y ib a ion o li e. Thus, in exhibi ion spaces o sculp u es, he
Medi e anean ligh demanded an a chi ec u e o i s own, a spa ial syn ax o
ligh o eanima e he ancien wo ks o a . In his i s p ojec o he Olympia
Ka an inos en isaged a silen cou ya d building whe e an iqui ies would s and
ou , a ein e p e a ion o he a ium - he house o he ancien s - in a
symme ical layou . The ac ual museum buil in he la e i ies ollowed ins ead a
basilica- ype layou , whe e “Ti ans” ecei ed ligh il e ing om he oo o he
cen al na e.
Ka an inos’ design o he a chaeological museum a Thessaloniki may be
unde s ood as a la e con ibu ion o he long p ocess o econs uc ion.
Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e
Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018
19
Displaying Hellenis ic and Byzan ine a i ac s4 in a mode nis space, he new
a chaeological museum e oked he my hical o igin o he ci y o Cassande and
i s pas glo ies in a suspended a mosphe e mean o a ouse an emo i e
esponse om he isi o s, whose mode n spi i would be enhanced when
con on ed wi h he p ecious wo ks o a .
Figu e 3. Pa oklos Ka an inos, en ance o he
a chaeological museum, Theassaloniki ( om Giacumaca os,
2003).
Ini ially, Ka an inos wo ked on a se ies o a che ypes - he a ium, he c oss-
shaped layou , he ci cula plan - inally adop ing a cen al pa io encompassed
by a double exhibi ion ci cui : one o Byzan ine a and ano he o
a chaeological indings. The low heigh and he ambien ligh – esul ing om
he a icula ion o he c oss-sec ion and a sys em o mo able sla s – combined
o achie e an an i-monumen al cha ac e . Howe e , like a so o mode n
emple, he building ose om a basemen . Reaching ou o he en ance
colonnade whe e isi o s could ind a e ac s an icipa ing he museum
collec ions, his basemen blends he museum in o he su ounding public
spaces, which would in u n acqui e new meanings ollowing he isi o s’
expe iences o he exhibi ion halls. Slende columns, ho izon al slabs, glass walls
and glass blocks combine o achie e a a e ied a mosphe e, aimed a
con ex ualizing he isi o as a mode n man in on o he ci y’s a is ic
he i age.
4 While he building p og amme was de ined in he 1940s, he decision o include he Byzan ine
collec ion in he new museum da es back o 1960.