In the quiescent vicinity of Kontopefko, successful Agia Paraskevi, astatine the intersections of Demokratias and Chryssostomou Smyrnis streets, an important task has been underway for astir 2 years. Quietly, Villa Iola is attempting to regain its lost grandeur and, finally, to determination toward its utilization by the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi, which acquired ownership of the spot aft galore adventures.
This seemingly straightforward project…was delayed by astir 4 decades, with devastating consequences for the unsocial gathering and the treasures it hid wrong portion Alexandros Iolas was inactive alive.
Although the timeless adage “better precocious than never” cannot screen up the flaws, failures, and indifference of the Greek State, the optimistic connection astatine this constituent is that Villa Iola, with its property of astir 7 acres surrounding it, present “faces” the aboriginal with the purpose of transforming it into a museum and a abstraction for aggregate taste activities.
Regarding the captious question of erstwhile the implicit restoration of the gathering and the surrounding country volition beryllium completed, sources from “THEMA” suggest the extremity of this year, with a imaginable completion by aboriginal 2026.
Iolas and Art
This near-future imaginable of turning the spot into a super-local taste hub besides aligns with the imaginativeness of Alexandros Iolas himself, who had astatine 1 constituent expressed the tendency to bequeath some the villa and his tremendous postulation of uncommon works of creation and antiquities to the Greek state. However, this privation was ne'er formally written down successful an authoritative will, which further analyzable the situation.
It was during a clip erstwhile a toxic clime had developed against him, arsenic helium fell unfortunate to a brutal smear campaign, accused of engagement successful antiquities trafficking, prostitution, and cause trafficking.
Thus, this Alexandrian patron of modern creation passed distant a fewer months later, defeated by AIDS, disgusted by the baseless and unrealistic accusations leveled astatine him by his self-appointed tormentors.
It was the tragic epilogue, similar an past tragedy, of a beingness of epic proportions. It began successful 1907 successful Alexandria, Egypt, erstwhile Konstantinos Koutsoudis, his existent name, archetypal saw the airy of day. A satellite that helium was destined to conquer with his unsocial endowment and insight.
Although calved into a affluent household of fabric merchants, and contempt his father’s repeated attempts to “recruit” him into the household business, helium knew from an aboriginal property that his existent calling was to go a person of creation successful each its forms.
In 1928, helium dispersed his wings and moved to Athens, equipped with a missive of proposal from C.P. Cavafy, which was capable to get him into the salons of the intellectuals of the clip and to socialize with salient figures similar Angelos Sikelianos, who considered him his teacher, Kostis Palamas, Dimitris Mitropoulos, and others. Encouraged by the latter, and aft taking his archetypal steps successful dance, helium near for Berlin, wherever helium dedicated himself to ballet and became 1 of the apical dancers of that period.
Although America was a decisive halt successful the travel of his life, it was Paris that marked his course. Having attended creation classes astatine the Sorbonne a fewer years earlier the war, portion walking successful the Champs-Élysées area, helium stopped successful beforehand of the model of a tiny assemblage wherever a coating stood out. It was Melancholia by Giorgio de Chirico, which captivated Iolas’s regard and became the catalyst for a displacement successful his creator direction.
In September 1945, helium opened his archetypal assemblage successful New York, showcasing works by European surrealists specified arsenic René Magritte, Max Ernst, de Chirico, and others. This accumulation was a immense success, demonstrating Iolas’s foresight. Shortly after, helium “discovered” and promoted Andy Warhol and galore different chartless artists astatine the time, portion besides giving “international passports” to immoderate of Greece’s top artists, specified arsenic Chatzikyriakos-Gikas, Moralis, Tsarouchis, Takis, Tsoklis, Akriatakis, Fasianos, and others.
Iolas developed a web of Alexander Iolas Galleries successful Geneva, Paris, Milan, Zurich, Madrid, and Rome, portion besides collaborating with galleries successful Greece. Over the years, helium amassed a immense idiosyncratic postulation and became 1 of the astir influential figures successful the planetary creation world.
The residence-museum successful Agia Paraskevi was a spot tied to memories from his comparatively young property and the Greek summers helium spent there.
The archetypal onshore acquired successful the 1950s was 40 acres. The archetypal household house, which was thing similar the aboriginal villa, was built there. Iolas lived determination with his member Dimitris Koutsoudis’s family, usually for 1 oregon 2 months each summer.
In different portion of the estate, houses were built for his sisters, Nikki Stiefel and Iro Xenakis, portion a ample portion was aboriginal donated to the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi with the thought of becoming a quadrate with sculptures. Thus, the Iolas residence retained astir 6.5 acres, with olive trees, eucalyptus, and different plants.
Seven extensions were made to the villa betwixt 1959 and 1974 by assorted architects to scope its existent form. However, the defining archetypal signifier of some the spot and its surrounding area, with its cobbled pathways, was fixed by the large Dimitris Pikionis, the antheral who “conversed” with each chromatic earlier placing it connected the ground.
Inside, thematic salons were gradually developed — the pinkish marble country showcasing works by Picasso, the Egyptian, the Greek with uncommon antiquities, the Byzantine with icons and spiritual artifacts — each interconnected with different spaces done golden-leafed doors crafted by Ioannis Kardamas.
The 2nd level was added nether the work of designer Emmanouil Karantinos with the extremity of creating a ample accumulation space, 2 bedrooms, and the iconic marble library, with a array created by the legendary Italian sculptor Novello Finoti. The last summation came successful 1974 to accommodate a monolithic enactment by Chilean creator Roberto Matta.
Thus, the villa reached 1,751 quadrate meters, but the changes continued until the end, arsenic interior rearrangements and redesigns, depending connected the creation pieces, became a changeless originative situation for the iconic collector.
In 1976, with the decease of Max Ernst, Iolas closed his galleries, arsenic helium had promised his adjacent friend, and began earnestly reasoning astir settling permanently successful Greece. This came soon afterward erstwhile helium near the glamorous beingness and noisy parties of New York and London to instrumentality to his idiosyncratic retreat, bringing with him his unsocial postulation of 10,000 artworks and uncommon objects.
The Defamation
However, erstwhile the question of defamation against him began to spread, the spotlight faded, and helium became astir isolated. Weakened, helium near the villa and Greece, and connected June 8, 1987, the antheral for whom Ernst had said, “He could spell against the aggravated oceans,” succumbed to the powerfulness of the “disease of the century” successful a New York hospital.
In the lack of a will, his heirs became his sister Nikki Stiefel and his niece Eleni Koutsoudi-Iolas. The 2 sides could not agree, and the process lasted for 10 years. During this period, the villa remained unguarded and suffered an unprecedented looting, with successive “removals” of items, arsenic good arsenic thefts. Stiefel was accused of the amerciable export of galore of Iolas’s treasures abroad, but the transgression prosecution ceased with her death.
Meanwhile, the spot and property were sold to contractor Spyros Georgiou, who purchased it with the volition of returning the villa to the municipality, connected the information that helium would beryllium allowed to utilize portion of the land.
The Vision
Since then, for 15 years, the lawsuit became entangled successful the courts and the gears of bureaucracy, portion the villa was near to the ravages of clip and the desires of vandals and thieves. Its aboriginal image, bare of the masterpieces it erstwhile hosted, but for those items that could not beryllium “taken,” similar the marble tables and an 800-kilogram enactment by Takis, with graffiti connected the walls, damaged, dark, and soiled spaces, bore nary resemblance to its erstwhile gleaming past.
Regarding the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi’s extremity to alteration the Iolas villa into a depository and abstraction for aggregate taste activities, Mayor Giannis Mylonakis spoke to “THEMA.”
As helium states, “As portion of the precedence we are giving arsenic a caller municipal medication to heighten the taste individuality of our city, we purpose to utilize and upgrade our properties to item them arsenic taste landmarks, which volition service arsenic a magnet for visitors from each implicit Attica. One of these is the Iolas Villa, wherever restoration enactment is presently underway to relation arsenic a depository and abstraction for aggregate taste activities.”
Mr. Mylonakis emphasizes that “this is simply a spot for which our municipality spent sizeable funds, truthful it is important for america that it is utilized successful a mode that volition beryllium sustainable, beneficial to the municipality, and lend to upgrading the city’s taste offerings.” The Mayor besides precocious met with the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, “with whom we agreed connected launching associated collaborations and outreach actions, with collaborations with different museums, organizations, and foundations successful Attica that person already expressed their willingness to contribute.” This, helium believes, volition “give our metropolis a lasting and recognizable taste identity, and civilization volition look arsenic 1 of the cardinal comparative advantages of Agia Paraskevi.”
The chronology of the spot acquisition by the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi was described, speaking to “THEMA”, by the Deputy Mayor for the Utilization and Management of Municipal Property, Sotiris Papamichail:
“The effort to get began successful 1997 during the mayoralty of the precocious Stavros Kotsis. The designation of Alexander Iolas’s residence arsenic a humanities listed modern monument was made successful August 1998, erstwhile Evangelos Venizelos was the Minister of Culture.
In April 2001, during the mayoralty of V. Giannakopoulos, the Municipal Council made the determination for the expropriation of the spot from the Ministry of Culture wrong the model of the Cultural Olympiad (2000-2004), which was declared successful October 2002, with a nationalist expenditure of 9 cardinal euros (during the tenure of Evangelos Venizelos astatine the Ministry of Culture), but later, successful August 2004, it was revoked.
In the summertime of 2007, it was approved by the Ministry of Culture, during the tenure of George Voulgarakis, the nonstop acquisition of the spot with nationalist expenditure of 9 cardinal euros, which was not completed.
In 2017, during the mayoralty of I. Stathopoulos, the Municipal Council made the determination for a nonstop acquisition by the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi for the sum of 3 cardinal euros successful 6 yearly installments, which was completed, and truthful the spot was definitively transferred to the ownership of the municipality successful December 2022,” helium pointed out.
The layout
It should beryllium noted that successful 2018, the survey titled “Creative Reuse of Iolas’ Property” was included successful the ESPA program, with the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi arsenic the implementing agency.
The main goal, according to the study, is to support the existing signifier of the gathering (division into rooms) successful the tone of a modern creation museum. The statement of the 9 rooms connected the crushed level volition connection a circular travel for visitors. The eating room, with the marble table, volition beryllium transformed into a gathering and league room. Iolas’ bedroom, adjacent to the main entrance, volition big bureau spaces, portion successful the summation connected the eastbound broadside of the building, successful the room country and successful Iolas’ newer bedroom, a lounge/cafeteria volition beryllium created to service visitors.
On the precocious floor, the ample room, wherever the enactment of Takis was besides located, volition beryllium converted into a multipurpose country (theater, cinema, events). The room abstraction volition beryllium preserved with the aforesaid use, portion connected the precocious level of the addition, 2 tiny guesthouses for artists volition beryllium created.
As emphasized, the interventions indispensable not change the building’s outer facades oregon the interior decoration (marble finishes), and the plot instrumentality elements (tables, seating, etc.) volition beryllium preserved and maintained.
In March 2023, during the tenure of the erstwhile Mayor Vasilis Zorbas, a declaration was signed betwixt the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi and the institution “Stathis Kokkini Technology 2020 S.A.” for the execution of works related to the originative reuse of the property.
Nearly 2 years later, the works are successful afloat progress; however, the task is challenging owed to the property’s unsocial characteristics, arising from successive extensions implicit assorted periods. Thus, successful summation to the implicit renovation, during which everything has been removed, it is indispensable to code different issues.
Currently, the portion concerning structural reinforcements is being completed, and electrical and architectural works volition follow.
As emphasized by sources from the Municipality, the extremity is to incorporated integer exertion into the property’s cognition arsenic good arsenic to item and marque usage of the surrounding space.
Regarding the task budget, it amounts to 4.2 cardinal euros, with backing secured from the Antonis Tritsis Program and the EPANEK.
According to the timeline, the Villa Iolas, successful its caller form, is expected to unfastened its doors to the nationalist towards the extremity of the twelvemonth oregon aboriginal the pursuing year.
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