Acharnes Αχαρνές | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 38°5′N23°44′E / 38.083°N 23.733°E | |
Country | Greece |
Administrative region | Attica |
Regional unit | East Attica |
Government | |
• Mayor | Spyros Vrettos [1] (since 2019) |
Area | |
• Municipality | 149.96 km2 (57.90 sq mi) |
• Municipal unit | 146.41 km2 (56.53 sq mi) |
Elevation | 186 m (610 ft) |
Population (2021) [2] | |
• Municipality | 108,169 |
• Density | 720/km2 (1,900/sq mi) |
• Municipal unit | 100,857 |
• Municipal unit density | 690/km2 (1,800/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Postal code | 136 xx |
Area code(s) | 210 |
Vehicle registration | Z |
Website | www.acharnes.gr |
Acharnes, also known as Menidi is a municipality in the East Attica regional unit in Greece. With 108,169 inhabitants (2021 census), it is the ninth most populous municipality in Greece. It lies just north of the Athens urban area.
The northern part of the municipality is covered by the forested Parnitha mountain. The southern part is in the plain of Athens, and is densely populated. The built-up area of Acharnes, in this southern part of the municipality, is continuous with that of the adjacent suburbs to the west, east and south. The centre of Acharnes is 11 kilometres (7 miles) due north of Athens city centre. The two other settlements in the municipality, Thrakomakedones and Varympompi, are situated further north, in the foothills of Parnitha. Acharnes is crossed by several important roads and railways, including the A6 motorway, the Piraeus–Platy railway and the Athens Airport–Patras railway. The Acharnes Railway Center is the main railway junction of Attica; two other stations in the municipality are Acharnes railway station and Kato Acharnes railway station, both on the Piraeus–Platy railway. Acharnes is home to the Folk Art Museum of Acharnes.
Acharnes has historically been an Arvanite settlement. [3]
Acharnes was named after the deme Acharnae (Ancient Greek : Ἁχαρναί), a subdivision of Athens in classical antiquity. The Athenian playwright Aristophanes characterised the inhabitants of Acharnae as peasants in his play The Acharnians . Acharnes suffered significant damage from the 1999 Athens earthquake, being very close to the epicenter.
The municipality Acharnes was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units: [4]
The municipality has an area of 149.956 km2, the municipal unit 146.406 km2. [5]
Year | Municipal unit | Municipality |
---|---|---|
1981 | 41,068 | - |
1991 | 61,352 | - |
2001 | 75,341 | - |
2011 | 100,743 | 106,943 |
2021 | 100,857 | 108,169 |
Acharnes is considered by some to be an unsafe place to live since it has an alleged high crime rate, usually involving drugs, theft and gang activity. [6] [7] There is also a small population of marginalized people such as Romani living in ghettos in Acharnes (approximately 4.800 people, about 4.5% of the population), that tend to be delinquents and offenders from an early age. [8] [9] [6] [7] [10]
The Folk Art Museum of Acharnes is a museum in Acharnes, a northern suburb of Athens, Greece. It was founded in 1977 by the local Greek Mountaineering Society, which also formed the Historical and Folklore Association in 1981, to which it bequeathed the museum in 1982. The archaeological part of the collection was then separated from the historical and folklore material and was given to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Former Minister Melina Mercouri founded for it the Archaeological Museum of Acharnes in a neoclassical building in the central square of Acharnes, which had formerly housed the local Town Hall. The same building houses the Historical and Folklore Society and its Folk Art Museum to the present time. [11] [12] [13] [14]
Attica, or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Lavrio, was an important mining region.
Mount Parnitha is a lightly forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m, and a summit known as Karavola (Καραβόλα). Much of the mountain is designated a national park, and is a protected habitat for wildfowl, first created in 1961. The summit is located 18 km north of Acharnes and about 30 km north of the Athens city center. The mountain covers approximately 250 km² of land. Other peaks include Mavrovouni (Μαυροβούνι), Ornio, Area, Avgo or Avgho, and Xerovouni. It also has two shelters Mpafi and Flampouri. The name of the mountain dates back to ancient times, when it was under the ancient demes of Acharnae and Decelea.
Acharnae or Acharnai was a deme of ancient Athens. It was part of the phyle Oineis.
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Thrakomakedones, is a town in the regional unit East Attica, in Attica region, Greece. It is a northern suburb of Athens. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Acharnes, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 3.550 km2.
Varympompi or Varybobi is a suburb of Athens in the municipality of Acharnes, East Attica, Greece.
The Acharnes Railway Center or SKA is a two-level railway station in the northern parts of the Athens agglomeration, in the suburb of Acharnes, where several important railway lines converge. It is an important passenger interchange station linking The main Piraeus–Platy railway line from Athens Central to Thessaloniki and the Athens Airport–Patras railway. The station opened in April 2011.
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Eleftheroupoli F.C., officially known as A.E. Eleftheroupoli, the "Athletic Union of Eleftheroupoli", is a Greek association football club based in Nea Ionia, a suburban town in the Athens prefecture, Greece. The club currently competes in the Athens Second Division.
Attica is an administrative region of Greece, that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, the core city of which is the country's capital and largest city, Athens. The region is coextensive with the former Attica Prefecture of Central Greece and covers a greater area than the historical region of Attica.
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The railway from Athens Airport to Patras is a double-track, standard-gauge railway line in Greece that, when completed, will connect Athens International Airport with Patras, the country's third-largest city. One of the largest railway projects of the last 30 years in Greece, its completion is of major significance for the infrastructure of the entire region of the northern Peloponnese. As of 2020, the line is completed until the city of Aigio. A 5.2 km underground section is planned for the final section from Kastellokampos to Agios Andreas in Patras. For most of the section between Athens Airport in East Attica and Mandra in West Attica, the line runs along the median strip of the Attiki Odos motorway.
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Media related to Acharnes at Wikimedia Commons