- The Kokovikos House at Tripodon 32 in Plaka is being restored and reused as a cultural space for Greek cinema screenings.
- Antiquities found in the courtyard and on the ground floor (2000–2003 digs) date from the Classical to the Byzantine periods.
- The Central Archaeological Council issued a unanimous positive opinion on the protection and display.
- Finds include: parts of ancient Tripodon Street, drainage systems, stairways, possible choregic monument bases, Hellenistic retaining walls, and ancient pipelines.
- The project includes roofing/protection, drainage, vegetation control, interpretive signage, and night lighting.
- Accessibility upgrades are built in (including entry design suitable for visitors with disabilities).
The House That Became a Film Set and Then Became an Excavation
Athens has a strange talent: it can be casually walking through modern life, sipping coffee, complaining about scooters, and suddenly the ground reminds everyone that the city is built on a stacked lasagna of centuries.
That is precisely what is happening at Tripodon 32, better known to the public as the Kokovikos House — the famous Plaka building that entered Greek pop culture through cinema, and now returns in a new role: a cultural venue dedicated to Greek film screenings.
But Greece, being Greece, cannot simply restore a building. It must restore a building and, in the process, inadvertently reveal Antiquity.
Lina Mendoni’s Message: Save the House, Reveal the Layers
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni framed the project as more than an architectural repair. According to her, restoring and reusing one of the few surviving “Athenian houses” helps bring it back into modern city life, while the excavation results underscore how continuously inhabited this area has been from Classical times onward.
The antiquities revealed during excavation (2000–2003) span the Classical and Byzantine periods, turning a simple courtyard into a living textbook.
What Was Found: Tripodon Street Under Tripodon Street
This is the delicious part.
Along the eastern side of the plot, archaeologists identified ancient Tripodon Street, with stratigraphic layers extending from modern deposits to at least the 4th century BC.
About two meters below today’s street level, they uncovered:
- parts of the internal western retaining structure
- a porous stone conduit
- overlapping clay pipeline systems
- a staircase ascent with at least four steps
- two square bases possibly linked to choregic monuments (competitive, very Athenian “sponsor monuments” monuments connected to festivals).
Inside the ground floor area, there are also remains, such as:
- a Hellenistic retaining wall, fragments of which appear in neighboring properties, too
- and sections of a clay conduit described as “Peisistratean or Kimonian,”—which is basically Athens saying, “Yes, we have plumbing older than your country.”
A 4th-Century BC Wine Party Dump, Because Athens Never Changes
On the western side of the courtyard, a cistern was found that later fell out of use and filled with a large ceramic deposit—mostly symposium vessels—dated to the last quarter of the 4th century BC.
So yes: even in Antiquity, Athenians drank, gathered, broke things, and left evidence behind.
Two thousand four hundred years later, we call it “archaeological material.”
How They Will Protect and Display It (Without Ruining the House)
The works are not just decorative.
They include:
- consolidation and conservation of remains
- respect for all historical phases (no “Disney Classic Athens” repainting)
- insertion of new elements that are clearly distinguishable from the authentic remains
- roofing/coverage measures mainly to protect from water damage
- drainage and moisture management
- vegetation control (because plants love eating ruins)
A key intervention: antiquities will be largely sheltered beneath a raised courtyard floor, while remaining visible and accessible beneath the new level.
Also planned:
- independent entrance access from Tripodon Street
- metal staircase + widened landing bridging height differences
- design considerations for universal accessibility, including visitors with disabilities
- interpretive signs and night lighting for the remains
Why This Story Works (Even for People Who Do Not Care About Archaeology)
Because it is not really about archaeology.
It is about Athens being Athens:
- cinema memory on the surface
- antiquity underneath
- and the eternal Greek cultural habit of reusing everything… including buildings, streets, and entire eras.
The Kokovikos House will not only return as a cultural space for Greek cinema, but also offer visitors a rare opportunity: a chance to look down and see the layers of time still breathing beneath Plaka’s stones.
