Athens’ fight against graffiti puts local government’s persistence on display

A massive anti-graffiti initiative was concluded earlier last week, cleaning up some of the Greek capital’s most famous landmarks

Graffiti, when done properly, can be beautiful, but more often than not, they are a pestilence upon a city’s image. Yet dealing with them is an excruciatingly hard process for authorities as they are hard to remove and somehow, they always keep reappearing.

Thus, every time officials decide to embark on massive clean-up operations of their urban areas, that can be seen as a true testament to their determination of keeping them clean and visually pleasing – and that is exactly what the Athenian government has done over the last few days.

Determination and success

One of the biggest anti-graffiti actions of the last decades in the heart of the city was completed earlier last week by the Municipality of Athens. Along the entire length of Stadiou Street, from Omonia to Syntagma, the necessary interventions were made, in order to remove the graffiti that had been covering an area of ​​3,300 square meters for years.

In order to remove all the graffiti, 700 litres of special solvent liquid and 48,000 litres of pressurized water were used, while for the additional protection of the clean surfaces, 220 litres of special graffiti protection material were consumed.

With the completion of the intervention, this historic road of the city, which houses some of the most important historic buildings of Athens, but also many shops, has regained its shine, on top of all the other places that were cleaned by the Municipality of Athens in the past including Patision, Pedion tou Areos, Evangelismos Park etc.

"It is very important for Athens to do what was not possible. To change the way our services work. With companies of this size but mainly of such duration. Repetitive and targeted to make everyday life better. This is the challenge " stated the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis in a statement regarding the massive clean-up operation.