Aiolou Street of Athens

Aiolou Street is a major roadway in the center of Athens. It is a one-way street, and while it originally had a southward direction, after the closure and redevelopment of Athinas Street in the late 1990s, the section north of Lykourgou Street became a one-way road heading north. The street begins at Pelopida Street, south of Ermou Street, and ends at Panepistimiou Street (also known as Eleftheriou Venizelou Avenue). Further north we find Patission Street (28th October Street). During the Ottoman period, the street’s location was known as “Aeolic Street” (Aioliki Odos), due to the Monument of the Winds, which still stands at its southern end. Aiolou Street was first designed in 1833 by architects Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert and was gravel-paved in 1860. Later on, neoclassical buildings were constructed along the street, some of which still remain in the southern and central sections. After World War II, modern apartment buildings of eight to ten stories were erected. The area near the intersection of Aiolou and Stadiou streets was known as Hafteia, a name still used by locals. Hafteia—and Aiolou Street more broadly—served as the commercial hub of Athens throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Pictured: Commercial traffic on Aiolou Street in Athens in 1900. The Acropolis hill can be seen in the background. ©Municipal Photography Museum of Kalamaria ‘Christos Kalemkeris’.