RUSTY SPACES
AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY
Deindustrialization has left its mark on Elefsina. The ruins of old, empty factories are perched along the beach, evoking memories for residents, workers, and passersby. Many things occurred in these places.
This history cannot be erased; it is rewritten through the experiences of people who connected their lives with this industrial past, shaping new attitudes, evaluations, and narratives about it. We see which of these places are currently visitable and which are still subject to debate between local society and new managers. We see how these spaces are currently perceived, how they narrate their histories, and how they survive in people’s minds and everyday life.
We see how the people of Elefsina compose a repertoire of memories and representations of industrial culture through on-site "excavations”", the rescue of archival materials, and the compilation of photographic collections.
We are at Kronos with a collector from Elefsina. At some point, he wanders away and appears to be searching through the remains. After a while, he comes back holding two bricks pulled out from the rubble. What did you find?
Back in the day, bricks used to carry the potter’s stamp: “Dimitris Methenitis”. This pottery used to be where Pyrounakeio School was… This could very well be the first pottery, if not prerevolutionary, then definitely created during the first period of the revolution. We have a document from 1831 placing an order of bricks. Also, this area, the buildings at the back, belong to the Methenitis Family. The area is called Kamini in contracts which go back to 1800, so…
The ruins reveal the different layers of the place’s history. The collector speculates that this early pottery stood here before its relocation to Pyrounakeio School.
Other than the overlapping histories of the site, we also come to realize how the archive is an integrated process for this collector, a physical experience of excavation and reconstruction of history.
INDUSTRIAL SPACES
Usually, when factories relocate, industrial towns fall to desolation. Elefsina is an exception: its deindustrialization was neither abrupt, nor comprehensive; the town’s workforce slowly adapted to other modes of production both within and at the outskirts of the city.
Factories largely abandoned the coastal front, albeit rupturing the fabric of the city within. Paradoxically, a part of the city was returned to its residents after the decline of industry.
The people of Elefsina gradually reconstruct a new urban landscape in the shadow of the city’s industrial past.
The neo-gothic facilities of Kronos, the smokestack of Iris, the complex of Elaiourgiki, the Elaiourgeio (Olive Oil Mill), and the plants of PYRKAL stand both as survivors of the formerly productive coastal front and as testimonials of Elefsina’s recent history.
Remnants of an industrial culture, they are of historical, technological, social, architectural, and scientific value, and representatives of industrial heritage, a field explored by industrial archaeology.
IRIS
KRONOS
ELAIOURGEIO (OLIVE OIL MILL)
SOAP FACTORY
PYRKAL
Ownership of the old Elaiourgeio (Olive Oil Mill) was transferred to the National Bank of Greece before ultimately being purchased by the Ministry of Culture in 2022.
Since 1995, the Elaiourgeio has hosted the Aeschylia Festival; in 2017, it also hosted activities related to the city’s nomination as "European Capital of Culture".
The Ministry of Culture is also planning to transfer Elefsina’s archaeological museum adjacent to the Elaiourgeio complex and convert it into a cultural center.
In 1990, the iconic administrative building of Kronos–a landmark of Elefsina–and the distillery’s tower were designated as protected monuments and briefly hosted the activities of the Aeschylia festival from 2003 to 2005. During the 2005-2012 period, the redevelopment and restoration of Kronos' facilities were challenged by a group of citizens of Elefsina, who proposed the development of an accessible green space instead. These demands caused friction with the municipal authorities at the time, who were promoting the construction of new houses.
The purchase of Kronos by the municipality of Elefsina was approved in September 2023, aiming at the development of a park and the reuse of its buildings as cultural spaces.
The old complex of Elaiourgiki coexists with the listed buildings and smokestack of Iris, along with the recently completed public housing projects Elefsina IV and Elefsina V. The complex is owned by Hellenic Public Properties Co. (ETAD in Greek) and its main building was redeveloped in the context of the European Capital of Culture initiative, currently serving as venue for sports and cultural activities.
Iris is owned by the Public Employment Service (DYPA in Greek) and is currently being converted into a cultural center with the support of the municipality of Elefsina in the context of the development of infrastructures for the European Capital of Culture initiative.
The factory of PYRKAL, located within an estate of 500 stremmas, was purchased in 2017 by Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE in Greek), whose facilities are adjacent. The future of parts of its facilities is subject to multiple claims by two opposing poles: on the one hand, former employees, residents, and municipal authorities, and on the other hand, ELPE itself.
The governments in office were torn between implementing European policies related to the salvage and promotion of Greece’s industrial heritage and remaining committed to various stakeholders who are still in business in the area.
In July 2017, after an onsite survey, the Ministry of Culture proposed to designate PYRKAL as a historical site and 12 out its 135 buildings as protected monuments. The procedures were halted two years later, after the change in government.
The city is also entitled to space in the upper complex of PYRKAL. Elefsina never had space and is now slowly regaining the inactive industrial estates – it is an opportunity to acquire large spaces and build a park. PYRKAL could breathe life into the city, Elefsina never had a park larger than a stremma. I would want for my children to enjoy this area. VAGELIS LIGGOS
RESIDENTS' INITIATIVE TO DECLARE PYRKAL A MONUMENT OF THE CITY'S RECENT INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
Today, the building and the facilities of PYRKAL are being cleared from explosive materials.
The city petitions for the redevelopment of its designated buildings and the arrangement of the wider area into a park, which will be returned back to its residents. The future of PYRKAL is still being negotiated.
Along with its industrial past and in the context of the "European Capital of Culture ELEUSIS 2023", spaces associated with the city’s industrial present were also converted into temporary cultural spaces. The ship scrapping yards at Vlycha thus hosted theatrical performances and events.
Look, Vlycha is currently very famous because of the cultural capital thing, but it wasn’t like that. It was just a place for scrapping ships, the scrapping yards of Savvas were there; it was a bog, a very bad one, and still remains so, don’t think otherwise because we have now improved it. It’s a graveyard of ships. Vlycha is pollution, but thanks to the cultural capital thing, it’s become an attraction and we actually go there to see plays, the spotlights fall on Alexandros
[a decommissioned ship]; we experience it like that, but the children must know what has happened.EVANGELIA NODARA