The history of our country, especially that of the last century, is a history full of important events that, to a large extent, determined the subsequent course of Greece. In many cases this story has been linked (either for good or for bad reasons) to specific places.
One of them is located just 15 kilometers from the center of Athens. At the foot of Parnitha. His own history, heavy and full of intrigue, runs almost entirely through the corresponding recent history of the state. This is former royal estate in Tatoi. That is where the summer residence of the former royal family was.
Recently, the (until recently) abandoned property returned to the news on the occasion of the efforts of the Ministry of Culture to turn it into an attraction for tourists and Athenians who will want a short getaway from the city.
The progress of the projects, which are already in progress, was examined in successive teleconferences under the Minister of Culture and Sports, Mr. Lina Mendoni and the immediate rescue action required is already underway.
Specifically, for the palace building, the technical reports for the cleaning, disinfection and restoration works of the roof and the frames with installation of scaffolding are ready. The forester's house, after being maintained and restored, will function as an information center for visitors. Rescue operations will begin immediately in the car park. At the same time, the assignment of the study for the kitchen building is underway.
In a few days, the installation of the tolls will be completed, in order to transport the boxes and items from the kitchen and stables, so that their recording and maintenance can proceed immediately. Regarding the paper material of the archive of the former royal estate, its recording, evaluation, maintenance and digitization will be included in the current NSRF, with a budget of 700.000 euros. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
We are in 1872 when the then king of the country George I buys at his urging Ernest Ziller an area of 20.000 acres in Tatoi.
The legendary architect insisted on this market because he envisioned a huge palace complex similar to Versailles! However, he was soon disappointed as the then king rejected his plans, as he intended this area for the creation of a recreational estate of the royal family.
What George I wanted was the creation of a huge artificial forest, where he even created two artificial lakes and released red deer from Hungary.
Thus, Ziller designed a simple two-story house, which he described as "Greek-Swiss style", which was completed in 1874 and became the first holiday home of the royal family.
Ten years later, the construction of the new palace begins, mainly by the architect Savvas Boukis. At the behest of Queen Olga, Boukis traveled to Russia, where he captured an English-style farmhouse in the Peterhof Palace complex, owned by her uncle, Tsar Alexander II.
The royal family first lived in the new palaces in 1889. Since then they have visited them every year from the end of May until shortly before the arrival of winter.
By the end of the century, the palace was already surrounded by dozens of buildings, including workers' housing complexes, a winery, a butter factory, warehouses, workshops and accommodation for the guard.
As it has already been mentioned, the "life" of the estate runs through the modern Greek history and of course many important moments unfolded there. Obviously, not all of them can be mentioned, however, the most important ones will be mentioned briefly in order for everyone to understand the weight of the story they "carry".
In 1917 during World War I., the Entente forces invade the estate with savage moods, occupy it and forcibly expel the then King Constantine.
During the Second Hellenic Republic (1924 - 1935) part of the palace was converted into a museum dedicated to the royal dynasty. At the same time, at that time, it was the summer residence of the then President of the Republic.
In the winter of 1941, in the middle of it World War II, in the palace area, under George II, the crucial meetings were held in view of the German attack, but also those that preceded the flight of the royal family to Egypt, South Africa and London after the collapse of the Front in April of the same year.
The Easter of 1944 and while the country was immersed in the vortex of the civil war, the guerrillas of E.L.AS arrive at the estate. At first they maintain a friendly attitude towards all residents. By autumn, the entire estate was operating under their command of EAMs executives. The civil war chapter will close dramatically as the rebels leave and execute three workers who were considered collaborators of the enemy, while setting fire to part of the estate.
Shortly before it came out in 1966, it is said that two secret meetings between George Papandreou and Panagiotis Kanellopoulos took place inside the palace, with the aim of overthrowing the government of the "apostates".
In 1967 and after the country has entered its "plaster" junta of Colonels, the royal family, after the failed anti-movement on December 13, leaves the palace and escapes to Rome. This was also the last time in their history that the royal estates in Tatoi were inhabited. On June 1, 1973, the junta abolished the kingdom and the estate passed to the Greek state for the first time.
In the years that followed and until 2003, there was a constant legal dispute between the former royal family and the Greek state, on the one hand over the ownership of the estate and on the other hand over the treasures it hid inside.
The controversy even reached the European Court! There the formerly King Constantine claimed that unlike the winter palaces, the palaces in Tatoi, Mon Repo and Polydendri were private property of his family, which had not come from its institutional role and therefore had to be compensated.
Finally, the European Court of Justice awarded the Greek State to pay compensation of 13,2 million euros!
In the early 1990s, however, a major political and economic scandal erupted that went down in history as "the royal rift." The government Mitsotaki made a secret agreement with the former royal family in order to be allowed to take various valuables from the palace!
According to reports at the time, Constantine seized from the palace of Tatoi nine containers with a gross weight of 32 tons in six trucks! Some of the valuables were liquidated at Christie's auction in 2007.
What was removed will probably remain unknown forever. It seems, however, that in the "sinful" containers, with the permission of the then government, paintings of great value were included, while publications of the time noted that "it is believed that the jewelry of Romanov of 1830 ", which was a real treasure.
It is worth noting that in the years of abandonment, the estate had become a pole of attraction for all kinds of gold diggers, who "enchanted" by various myths were looking in the estate for chests full of gold pounds. In one of the most notable incidents, in 2006, four people (three of them in uniform) were arrested, who were looking for… gold pounds with the help of a metal detector!
However, according to what is known, despite what the estate has taken from time to time, even today, about 17.000 objects of lesser or greater value are preserved - among them valuable paintings. All this will soon take its place and when the restoration and maintenance works are completed, the visitors of the former royal palaces will be able to admire them.