Save a Monument - Guide

​Guidelines for protecting buildings

What should I do right away?

o   Photograph the building at risk.

o   Inform the competent protection body (Ministry of Culture, Ministry of the Environment), sending them a photograph of the building along with its address and information about its history.

o   Call an organization (MONUMENTA, for example!) and ask them to intervene.

o   Check to see if a demolition permit has been issued.

o   Check the contents of the demolition permit.

o   Inform the police if no permit has been issued.

o   Inform the relevant bodies and submit a request seeking their intervention.

o   Apply for the building to be designated a listed monument by the competent protection body.

o   Collect information about the building from books, databases of registered buildings, oral testimonies, archives and the deeds registry in support of the protection request.

o   Inform the Press.

o   Draft a petition and collect signatures.

o   Continue to send letters to the relevant protection body.

o   Take courage from the visionary architect Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968)

“The Arsakeion is 80 or so years old. It is not a ruin; the beauty of its form is preserved intact. It has simply not received the basic maintenance every building deserves, and which its owners are required to provide. The true conclusion to reach is not that it should be torn down. If this were true, we should conclude that all modern buildings, the Athens Technical University (Polytechnic) and others, should be demolished when vulgar utilitarianism decides they should be, on the sole criterion of material needs. The true conclusion is not that we should demolish it, but rather that we have a sacred duty to preserve it and to cherish it, along with everything else of artistic worth ...”. (The Arsakeion, in D. Pikionis, Texts, MIET, Athens 2000, p. 137_

 Keep fighting the good fight.