If a voice is not heard in school
If no one comes to teach in it,
Oh! Do not think that an epidemic has struck,
Or that wise men have failed us…Oh! Oh! May God forbid!
[paraphrase of the verses of the poem by Georgios Souris
“Es tin Athina tis Akadimias” Unpublished (Volume II), 1892]
The only way the cycle of such a vibrant organism can close is by opening a new one. The year 2023 marks the beginning of the Inauguration of a new era for the School. The structure that housed the 1st Primary School of Spata, “returns” to Spata and its inhabitants, as well as to each and every one of us, giving way to the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Spata-Artemis.
Those who cross the threshold of the ground floor halls may not find desks and inkwells, blackboards, and sponges. The spaces are instead filled with exhibits, audiovisual materials, maps, documents, and photographs. There are albums awaiting you to flip through them, drawers to pull, buttons to press, touch screens to scroll, QR codes to scan and discover almost five millennia of Spata’s and neighboring Artemida’s history, through the three-part permanent exhibition:
Cultural landscape stories
Land, bearer of vines, grapes, olives and wheat
Costumes
Here are some first revelations – Spoilers!
You will have the opportunity to walk on paths and roads, ancient and modern • You will pass through pastures, ports, thickets, rocky landscapes, and farmhouses • You will traverse vineyards with Savatiano grapes and find yourself in the midst of olive tree-covered fields • You will soar over the bed of the Erasinos River, where rare species of endemic and migratory birds meet up, and you will land in ancient, sacred places such as the Temple of Artemis • You can even learn who the mythical hero Erchias was and where Alcibiades’ properties were located • You will encounter skilled potters and marble craftsmen, as well as ploughmen, dedicated to cultivating and harvesting the land. A time when no piece of land remained uncultivated. A time when everyone engaged in the “battle” with tools like sickles that “mowed” swaths of land • And from these “battles” of the fields and the struggles for the salvation of the crops from pests and vine diseases, you will be transported to actual battlefields. You will be informed how many kilograms the full armor of a hoplite in the era of the Greco-Persian Wars weighed, or how many wild boars had to be hunted to construct a Mycenaean warrior’s helmet • You will learn where the Moorhen nesting sites are and where the Bee-eaters stop before continuing their journey north • You will have the opportunity to taste “embroidered” breads and taste the golden retsina of the Mesogheia vineyard • You will learn how many tons of onions are needed for a quantity of stifado capable of feeding 18,000-20,000 celebrants every year in order to celebrate Saint Peter “as he should be” and how many carts of stum are equivalent to the value of a bridal headscarf of a woman of Spata.
Still wondering what else could be here? All that remains is to visit each hall one by one – in whatever order you desire – and discover them.
