Kathimerini English
An (un)orthodox gallery in a historic monastery
‘What breathes life into a gallery is temporary exhibitions,’ says Christos Kehagioglou, curator of ‘The Enigmantic World of Man,’ an exhibition of works by the celebrated late Greek painter Alekos Fassianos in the western tower of the 10th-century...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A workout for the mind, a lifeline for aging
Across seven Greek communities, older adults are gathering at `Memory Gyms,' pilot centers run by the Athens Alzheimer Association through the Healthy Mind program. Participants over 60, motivated by fears of dementia and a desire to stay mentally...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Renewing a landscape of remembrance
The Defense Ministry has approved plans to upgrade and highlight the Monument of the Unknown Soldier and its plaza, introducing changes aimed at improving accessibility, preservation and public understanding of the site. The proposal would replace...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mitsotakis, Macron discuss energy link
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held talks Wednesday with French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to Paris for the International Space Summit, with discussions focusing on energy infrastructure, regional developments and bilateral...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A new chapter at sea: Greece, Italy sign frigate pact
The signing of a bilateral implementing arrangement in Rome on Tuesday activated Greece's acquisition of two Italian FREMM frigates, marking a significant step in a growing defense partnership between Athens and Rome. Following the meeting between...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Books under the stars: Athens launches annual literary festival
Books, music and open-air culture have officially taken over central Athens as the 54th Athens Book Festival, which opened to the public on September 4, held its official inauguration Monday evening. The beloved literary gathering launched at Pedion...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM couples relief with fiscal stability
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday defended a broad package of tax cuts, wage increases and social support measures, arguing that Greece's economic progress now allows the government to return more benefits to citizens while maintaining...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Searching for parking in a city built around cars
Parking remains the top local concern for residents of Greater Athens, according to a GPO poll, reflecting how life depends on private cars. A 2026 study by researchers at the National Technical University of Athens found that more than six in 10...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ancient floors, fresh clues: Mieza's hidden story
New archaeological discoveries at the Royal Gymnasium of ancient Mieza in central Macedonia in northern Greece are reshaping understanding of the monument's architecture and functions, with mosaic floors preserved in two banquet halls emerging as the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Erdogan threats raise tensions again
Concern is growing in Athens that relations between Greece and Turkey could be entering a new period of heightened tension following remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that directly referenced Kastellorizo and revived rhetoric recalling...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
War on traffic congestion gets air support
Police on Tuesday unveiled Traffic Commander, a new traffic-management system that combines cameras, drones, motorcycle officers and conventional traffic police in an effort to prevent congestion before it spirals into gridlock. The system operated on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A deal with a geopolitical footprint
A defense agreement described by both sides as strategically significant was formally signed in Tel Aviv on Monday, linking Greece and Israel through what officials said is the largest contract ever concluded between the two countries. The €3 billion...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Reconnecting Thessaloniki: Bridging past and present
Athens-based architecture firm Apostolopoulos Tasoulis has won the competition to unify Thessaloniki's archaeological sites and historical monuments. Unanimously selected by a jury of experts and ministry officials, the winning proposal, titled...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hunting the mosquitoes that carry a warning
Before maps fill with red zones and new West Nile virus cases are recorded, a quieter process unfolds in university laboratories across Greece. The Medical Entomology Unit of the University of West Attica's Infectious Disease Surveillance Laboratory...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Badminton building comes down, 22 years after Olympics
The demolition of Athens' Badminton building, damaged by fire in July, began Thursday under the Defense Ministry, reviving a long-delayed plan tied to the city's Olympic legacy. Built for the 2004 Olympic Games as a temporary facility, the structure...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Long wait ends as Thessaloniki extends its metro east
The long-delayed expansion of Thessaloniki's metro to Kalamaria enters service on Thursday, bringing to a close what officials describe as a 13-year odyssey. The 4.78-kilometer extension adds five stations – Nomarchia, Kalamaria, Aretsou, Nea Krini and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The photographer who captured a Greece that was fading
Nikos Desyllas, a photographer who spent more than five decades traveling across Greece, died recently at 83, leaving behind an unusually intimate record of a country in rapid change. Born in Athens in 1943 and raised in Corfu, Desyllas began working...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Beneath the shadow of antiquity, mountains of waste
Across parts of rural Greece, the landscapes surrounding major archaeological sites, rivers and provincial roads have quietly become dumping grounds, burdened by years of illegal waste disposal and the limited capacity of municipalities to respond. A...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A monastery's land claims ignite a rural church war
In a remote monastery high in the mountains of Fokida in central Greece, a campaign to revive a struggling religious community spiraled into a bitter conflict over land, power and a lucrative solar-energy project. Research at the Monastery of Panagia...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The Athens workshop turning tourists into marble carvers
In a marble workshop in Mets, an Athens neighborhood, tourists are trading sightseeing for chisels. For about a year, the Georgiou family, third-generation sculptors, has opened its workshop to visitors eager to try the fading craft of marble carving....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
From recycling centers to the courthouse
The Attica Regional Authority and ESDNA, the Intermunicipal Agency of the Attica Region, have taken their dispute with recycling company TEXAN to court, seeking 29,000 tons of recyclable material, or €6 million, its estimated value. The claim covers...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ancient Nicopolis prepares for its next act
The Culture Ministry is moving ahead with the restoration of the lower seating section of the ancient theater of Ancient Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, following completion of the restoration study for that part of the monument. The intervention is...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Greek-owned ships hit as maritime risks deepen
The global shipping industry remained on high alert after a series of attacks on commercial vessels in two of the world's most strategic waterways – the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz – left casualties, destroyed ships and heightened concerns over...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
From Anafi to Antiparos, a quiet literary trail
On islands where newspapers often run out before the ferry even docks, small bookshops are thriving against the odds. On Anafi, a two-year-old shop called Arsenale occupies a former boathouse in the port of Agios Nikolaos, with no fulltime host as such...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Statesman or old-style party politician?
Antonis Samaras is a complex and undoubtedly talented politician. A man of contradictions, he has never followed the conventional path to achieve what he wanted. On the one hand, he was the quintessential product of Greece's traditional establishment....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Designing the metropolis of tomorrow
From London, architect Petros Tsoukalas is proposing a more ambitious future for Athens, a city he sees as rich in possibilities and potential but lacking a coherent urban identity. His `Reload Athens' proposals seek to reshape public space, create...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The watchful guardians of the beach
On the beaches of Attica, lifeguards describe a job defined as much by vigilance as by rescue. Their greatest challenge, they say, is maintaining constant concentration while scanning hundreds of swimmers to identify the one person in danger. Many...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The philosopher who chronicled Greece's psyche dies
Stelios Ramfos, the influential Greek philosopher, writer and public intellectual who explored Greek identity, Orthodox tradition and the psychological foundations of modern society, has died at 87. Born in Athens in 1939, Ramfos studied law before...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A Greece far from home, united by lacrosse
What seemed like an ordinary youth lacrosse final in Pennsylvania became something larger for a team of 25 players under 15, representing Greece. Surrounded by parents, grandparents and relatives waving Greek flags, the largely Greek-American squad won...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The daily swim that breaks the quiet of home
Each morning, buses wind through working-class neighborhoods of Piraeus, collecting elderly women bound for the beach at Lagonisi. For about €8, passengers spend two hours swimming before returning home by early afternoon. The rides, filled with songs,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
After the flames, only silence
Silence has settled over Porto Germeno after a destructive wildfire tore through the area, leaving residents surveying burned homes, blackened hillsides and a landscape covered in ash. The change is immediate on the road toward Psatha and Porto...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
French entry opens path to vital cable
A months-long round of negotiations between Athens and Paris aimed at improving the conditions for the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project ended with an agreement signed Wednesday for the entry of French investment group Meridiam and its...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
From monastic silence to the sound of war
Mount Athos monks in front of a destroyed Russian battle tank, in the center of Kyiv. Air-raid sirens interrupted a Sunday liturgy at the Monastery of the Archangel in Kyiv as monks, clergy and worshippers received alerts on their phones warning of an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ablaze across Greece
Firefighters approach towering flames on Mount Kithairon near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens. They battled wildfires across the country on Monday, with the toughest fronts in Psatha, Loumpa, Vilia and Megara in western Attica. In Ilia, a blaze in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Greece joins dig at Spain over migrants
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined 21 other European Union leaders in signing a letter to the bloc's leadership asking for a coordination of migration policies and criticizing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's project of regularization of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Dozens of blazes fed by high winds
Firefighters have been stretched thin battling wildfires across Greece under very windy conditions. In the 24 hours from 6 pm Thursday to 6 pm Friday, 51 new blazes had started and firefighters were battling a total of 73 wildfires, Fire Service...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Wildfires are aided by high winds
The wildfire on the island of Crete, in which two firefighters lost their lives Wednesday, was still burning Thursday evening, aided by high winds in the area. The high winds also make it impossible for firefighting planes and helicopters to operate....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
3 firefighters die fighting blazes
Three firefighters died Wednesday fighting wildfires on three locations across Greece, the Fire Service announced. Two of the firefighters, a 58-year-old and a 25-yearold seasonal employee, died in the largest of the wildfires, on the south coast of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
UN chief tries for a Cyprus deal
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Tuesday with Cypriot leaders to gauge whether they are ready to accept a renewed effort to end the island's 52-year-old division. Guterres met separately with Cypriot President Nikos...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Five villages seek UN distinction
Five Greek rural communities are eyeing a place in UN Tourism's 300-strong network of Best Tourism Villages, which recognizes destinations that preserve cultural heritage, support local communities and promote sustainability. On the western coast of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Greece, Cyprus seek to turn movement into progress
Two days before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due in Cyprus, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (l) met Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (r) in Athens on Saturday and said coordination between the two countries was `more timely than...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tracing a city's soul through the facades of a bygone era
The fading charm of a home built in 1930 in the northern Greek town of Katerini is pictured. A new volume documenting the old houses and neighborhoods of Katerini brings together photography and fiction to trace the city's historical path, while...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Attica installs hundreds of cameras in safety push
The Attica regional government has completed the installation of 388 cameras designed to detect red-light violations at selected intersections across the Athens metropolitan area, a project funded through the Recovery and Resilience Facility under a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A new Tsipras, a new electoral map
Those who diagnosed Alexis Tsipras' intentions early on in the former leftist prime minister's rebranding campaign, were not surprised by the momentum of the new party he launched and its rapid ascent to second place in the country's party...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
They came for authenticity. Then too many arrived
On Greece's islands, a growing instinct to keep quiet is replacing the urge to share. In Sifnos, residents say traditional feasts, once centered on devotion, hospitality and modest offerings of food and wine, are being overwhelmed by visitors chasing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The Sahara's long reach across Europe
African dust carried from the Sahara across Europe has increased in intensity, according to a study published in Nature and involving five Greek scientists. Drawing on measurements from 103 urban and rural sites between 2012 and 2021, including Athens...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Mountain of the Gods’ a candidate for UNESCO list
Greeks hope their tallest mountain, Mount Olympus, mythological home of ancient Greece’s 12 Olympian gods, will be inducted into UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a mixed cultural and natural site. Olympus rises to 2,918 meters (9,573 feet) from a base...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
More retirees are staying on the job
Greece's overhaul of rules governing employment after retirement is reshaping the labor market, creating incentives for retirees to remain economically active while generating additional revenue for the social insurance system. Since January 1, 2024,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Clear skies, climbing temperatures
Temperatures are set to climb across Greece in the coming days, with heat becoming increasingly noticeable nationwide. Forecast data from the National Meteorological Service indicates generally clear skies, interrupted by brief clouds during the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A Trojan horse returns, and the world follows
A giant 11-meter Trojan horse appeared in London's Trafalgar Square on Tuesday, days before the premiere of Christopher Nolan's `The Odyssey,' becoming the most visible symbol of a worldwide surge of interest in the filmmaker's adaptation of Homer's...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
After an explosion, a reckoning over workplace safety
A 59-year-old worker, identified as Dimitrou Nikou and believed to be Romanian, died after suffering burns over 90% of his body in a fire at a truck suspension repair shop in Aspropyrgos' industrial district of Mavri Ora. He died after four days in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Marfin probe returns from archive
Police and judicial authorities reopened the arson case at the Marfin bank branch and obtained arrest warrants for three suspects after a lengthy forensic analysis prepared by the Hellenic Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations, based on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The garden that held an island's history
A visitor takes photos of bronze Roman emperors in Rhodes. For 75 years, the Pervola, a 2-hectare archaeological tract beside the Palace of the Grand Master in Rhodes' UNESCO-listed Medieval City, remained closed, serving as a storage yard, workshop...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Vacation photos unlock deadly Marfin case
Sixteen years after the deadly arson attack on the Marfin Bank branch in Athens that killed three employees, Greek authorities have arrested two men and issued a warrant for a third suspect, reopening one of the country’s most high-profile unsolved...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A musical odyssey back to Homer
Greek musician and musicologist Rosa Fragorapti discovered only upon arriving in London that a confidential recording session she had accepted was for Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming ‘Odyssey.’ Invited without a score and bound by secrecy, she spent...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The battle to save an iconic shipwreck
In a bid to preserve one of Greece’s most recognizable tourist landmarks, authorities have launched a major project to expand the beach surrounding the wreck of the Panagiotis, a smuggling vessel that ran aground on Zakynthos in 1980 and gave Navagio...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Greece reaches for a sharper view of earth
Greece gained new Earth-observation capabilities on Tuesday after the microsatellite Hyperion GR-1 was successfully launched and entered orbit under the National Microsatellite Program. The launch marks another step in expanding the country’s space...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A second act for Mycenae’s Xenia
The Culture Ministry has announced the restoration and reuse of the historic Xenia tourist pavilion in Mycenae, one of the earliest buildings erected by the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) in the 1950s as part of its Xenia promotion program....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Anti-systemic tide is growing in America
A deep, anti-systemic current is gathering momentum in the United States. This time around, it isn’t flowing to the right, as was the case with Donald Trump’s election, but to the left. The signs that something of this kind was brewing were certainly...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Strike protests inadequate port
The port of Rafina, east of Athens, was hit by a seamen’s strike, supported by local residents. The reason for the strike is the port’s notoriously poor infrastructure. The port, the gateway to many of the Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea, has only...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Psyttalia wastewater plant upgrade planned
Athens’ water utility EYDAP has launched the first step toward a major upgrade of Psyttalia, the country’s largest wastewater treatment plant, aiming to modernize operations, reduce pollution and improve energy efficiency. The company’s board has...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
One dead, 4 hurt in arson hits
A string of arson attacks against officials of the ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki early Wednesday has resulted in one death and four injuries. A woman, identified by authorities as the mother of former parliamentary candidate for New...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Apartment building turns to rubble
Fire Service rescuers search through the rubble of a four-story apartment building that collapsed in the downtown Athens district of Petralona on Tuesday. As rescue operations wrapped up after nightfall, no human casualties were reported and everyone...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Santorini winemakers adapt to heat and drought
In Santorini, low rainfall and searing temperatures from 2023-2025 have increased the price of grapes, slashed wine production and intensified concerns over water supply on the island – an issue blighting much of Greece as climate change makes summers...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TIF speech to be crafted as election appeal
Pundits agree that, by the time Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes the trip north to deliver the keynote address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on September 5, he will have made up his mind on the timing of the next national...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
First modern Olympics site gets first major upgrade
(Kallimarmaro), the marble venue that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, is undergoing its first comprehensive renovation. The Hellenic Olympic Committee has launched a multiphase upgrade program that begins with the full...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The gospel according to Nick Cave
The legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered a commanding two-and-a-half-hour performance at Plateia Nerou in Athens on Wednesday as part of the Release Festival, drawing on a catalog that spans 48 years. Backed by a four-member gospel choir and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The criticism over the government's policy on Russia and Israel
A country's foreign policy is shaped by the national interest. This is the core principle that has also guided Greece in relation to the two major conflicts of our times. Sure, there are values, traditional ties and, in some cases, even the personal...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
How architecture became part of the cure
A new hospital rising in Komotini is being embraced locally not simply as a healthcare facility but as a catalyst for change in Thrace. `For us, the new general hospital of Komotini is much more than a building. It is a vision,' said hospital...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A Medea for the ages returns to Epidaurus
of Luigi Cherubini's `Medea' at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus last Saturday overcame two formidable challenges: returning opera to the venue after decades of absence and reconstructing a landmark production first staged 65 years ago. The sold-out...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Scattered houses, last guardians of old Piraeus
In a historic quarter of Piraeus, where old residential blocks descend from Kastella and Profitis Ilias toward the city's dense interior, a handful of aging houses remain as vestiges of an earlier urban landscape. At the corner of Miltiadou and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Paradise, gated: Notes from a Santorini shoreline
The municipality of Thira has filed a formal complaint against unauthorized construction on the shoreline at Chanas in Vlychada, on the island of Santorini, alleging violations of Greek coastal protection law. The site, home to a beach bar for more...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Parthenon unbound after two centuries
For the first time in roughly 220 years, the western facade of the Parthenon has been returned to what the Culture Ministry described as its fullest possible form, free of external scaffolding. The milestone marks the completion of a painstaking...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fixed, for now: Corinth Canal reopens after slope repairs
The Corinth Canal reopened to maritime traffic Wednesday after the successful completion of the primary phase of critical slope stabilization and restoration work. The decision to resume vessel transits followed a systematic evaluation of the technical...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A blue edge in Europe's sea rankings
Europe's latest bathing-water assessment offers reassuring news for Greece and a stark warning for Albania. According to data released by the European Environment Agency, Greece ranked second in Europe, with 97.1% of monitored bathing waters rated...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A chorus of grief behind bars
Behind the bars of the Women's Prison of Eleonas in Thiva, 12 incarcerated women stepped onto a stage and into a public light that many had never known. Their performance, `GYNAI,' emerged from the National Theater's personal development workshop, a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)