Economy

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Ermou street near the Syntagma Square

Athens is the financial capital of Greece, and multinational companies such as Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola and Coca-Cola have their regional research and development headquarters there.

Education[edit]

The Propylaea, part of the "Trilogy" of Theofil Hansen, serves as the ceremony hall and rectory of theNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Facade of the Academy of Athens

Located on Panepistimiou Street, the old campus of the University of Athens, the National Library, and the Athens Academy form the "Athens Trilogy" built in the mid-19th century. Most of the university's workings have been moved to a much larger, modern campus located in the eastern suburb of Zografou. The second higher education institution in the city is the Athens Polytechnic School, found in Patission Street. This was the location where on 17 November 1973, more than 13 students were killed and hundreds injured inside the university during the Athens Polytechnic uprising,^[95] against the military junta that ruled the nation from 21 April 1967 until 23 July 1974.

Other universities that lie within Athens are the Athens University of Economics and Business, the Panteion University, the Agricultural University of Athens and the University of Piraeus. There are overall eleven state-supported Institutions of Higher (or Tertiary) education located in the Metropolitan Area of Athens, these are by chronological order: Athens School of Fine Arts (1837), National Technical University of Athens (1837), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1837), Agricultural University of Athens (1920), Athens University of Economics and Business (1920), Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (1927), University of Piraeus (1938),Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus (1976), Technological Educational Institute of Athens (1983), Harokopio University (1990),School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (2002). There are also several other private colleges, as they called formally in Greece, as the establishment of private universities is prohibited by the constitution. Many of them are accredited by a foreign state or university such as the American College of Greece and the Athens Campus of the University of Indianapolis.^[96]

Environment[edit]

Recycling machine in Athens

By the late 1970s, the pollution of Athens had become so destructive that according to the then Greek Minister of Culture, Constantine Trypanis, "...the carved details on the five the caryatids of the Erechtheum had seriously degenerated, while the face of the horseman on the Parthenon's west side was all but obliterated."^[97] A series of measures taken by the authorities of the city throughout the 1990s resulted in the improvement of air quality; the appearance of smog (or nefos as the Athenians used to call it) has become less common.

Measures taken by the Greek authorities throughout the 1990s have improved the quality of air over the Attica Basin. Nevertheless, air pollution still remains an issue for Athens, particularly during the hottest summer days. In late June 2007,^[98] the Attica region experienced a number of brush fires,^[98] including a blaze that burned a significant portion of a large forested national park in Mount Parnitha,^[99]considered critical to maintaining a better air quality in Athens all year round.^[98] Damage to the park has led to worries over a stalling in the improvement of air quality in the city.^[98]

The major waste management efforts undertaken in the last decade (particularly the plant built on the small island of Psytalia) have improved water quality in the Saronic Gulf, and the coastal waters of Athens are now accessible again to swimmers. In January 2007, Athens faced a waste management problem when its landfill near Ano Liosia, an Athenian suburb, reached capacity.^[100] The crisis eased by mid-January when authorities began taking the garbage to a temporary landfill.^[100]