The Athens gasworks was established in 1857, just three years after the Douroutis silk mill, in order to cover the city's need for public lighting. These were Athens's first two industrial plants, which marked the city's town-planning and financial development. In addition, two of the most densely populated districts of the capital were named after these plants: Metaxourgeio (i.e. silk mill) and Gazohori (i.e. gas village). The gasworks was the first energy production unit in all of Greece. Its key location at the beginning of Pireos Street served to spur further growth, rendering Pireos Street the city's largest industrial zone for several decades.
At the time the gasworks was founded, achievements of the industrial revolution had just started to make their entry in the then recently established Greek state. The use of coal gas spread towards the end of the 19th century when the new, at the time, form of energy was first used in applications other than public lighting, entering households and other industries to cover their energy needs.
In 1938 the plant's management was turned over to the Athens Municipality and in 1952 the Athens Municipal Gasworks (DEFA) was formally established, which undertook the production and distribution of coal gas in the capital's network.
The Athens gasworks supplied the city with lighting and energy for almost 130 years, up until 1984 when it was permanently closed down.
The gasworks played a decisive part in the development of Athens. It substantially contributed to the capital's modernization, it changed the nature of its inhabitants' home life and generally infused the city's atmosphere with the aura of a modern city that is financially independent and industrially active, in compliance with the standards of other great European cities of the time.
Just a few years after the plant's closedown, plans had already started for the exploitation and reuse of its abandoned facilities. The Ministry of Culture listed the site as a preservable historical monument, with the prospect of turning it into a museum and a multifunctional events venue. Moreover, the site constitutes a representative example of 19th century technology and industrial architecture, since the most its buildings still stand and a large part of its mechanical equipment has been preserved almost intact. These, along with several objects gathered from the plant as well as coal gas appliances, comprise the Industrial Museum's rich collection.
Old buildings' repair and restoration as well as the plant's free space landscaping were concluded in 2004. Already since 1999, the site has been operating as the City of Athens "Technopolis" park, a venue hosting cultural and other events.
In 2011 the new management of Technopolis undertook the ambitious plan to create the Industrial Gas Museum, assigning its realization to a group of outstanding scientists (museologists, historians, mechanical engineers, architects, civil engineers, conservators). A year later, the old gasworks opens its gates to the public and proudly presents its "story" for the first time. Following a carefully drawn museological pathway with specified stops along its course, visitors have the opportunity to tour the plant's facilities, observe the coal gas production line and discover a so far "forgotten" part of the history of Athens.
At the same time, topics such as industrial heritage and industrial archaeology, entrepreneurship, industrial working conditions at the plant, old and new forms of energy, unfold before the visitors' eyes through original objects and equipment, numerous photographs, audio testimonials and video projections. Such topics represent the spectrum of historic and current issues pertaining to the capital's development over the past two centuries. The founding of the Industrial Gas Museum comes to enrich the city's museal map. Athens welcomes its first industrial museum and, at the same time, its first technological museum.
Hence, Technopolis assumes a double function both as a venue for cultural and artistic events and as the first Industrial Gas Museum that begins to tell its own story and showcase the technology of another era.
Materialization of the Industrial Gas Museum would not have been possible without the active contribution of the companies that are indispensably tied to present-day natural gas industry in Greece: DEPA, DESFA and EPA Attiki.
We also thank the ERT - Directorate of Museum & Archives for the concession of audiovisual materials.
Admission price: 1€
Industrial Gas Museum opening times
Wintertime (15 October - 15 April): Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00 - 20.00 Last admission: 19.00 Monday: closed
Summertime (16 April - 14 October): Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00 - 18.00 Last admission: 17.00 Monday: closed
Closed on: 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 28 October, 25 & 26 December
Museum shop
The Industrial Gas Museum has been a source of inspiration in the creation of the museum shop; thus, all objects on sale, from the jewelry to the notebooks and pencil cases, are tied to the history and aesthetics of Gazi, one of Athens's most distinctive districts.
Functional and decorative items are imprinted with the historic course of the district, images from the past up to present day, the site's old and current functions, as well as the overall experience of the visit to the Museum and Technopolis.
The shop aims to honor, and draw inspiration from, not only the Museum per se but also from its industrial character. Drawing upon concepts such as innovation and entrepreneurship, which are necessary for the success of any industry, the Museum's shop makes the difference and assumes the whole process of producing industrial objects in cooperation with Greek craftsmen and factories. In this way, Greek industrial designers' work and domestic production are supported while at the same achieving a final product with no middlemen, at the lowest possible price for the consumer.
Museum shop opening times
Wintertime (15 October - 15 April): 10.00 - 21.00
Summertime (16 April - 14 October): 10.00 - 19.00
Closed on: 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 28 October, 25 & 26 December
"Technopolis" City of Athens:
100 Pireos Street, Gazi, 210 3475518, 210 3453548
Email: gasmuseum@athens-technopolis.gr
For further details: http://www.technopolis-athens.com/web/guest/museum/home
Access
Metro: "Kerameikos" station (blue line)
Trolley bus: 21 (from Omonia square), stop "Fotaerio"
Buses: 049, 815, 838, 914, Β18, Γ18, stop "Fotaerio"
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