ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to examine the relationship among politics, memory, and the formation of national identity in early 20th-century Athens from the angle of nationalistic narratives as articulated and imposed by contemporary official authorities in regard to urban art policies such as the construction of statesmen’ statues in central Athenian space. In January 1920, the unveiling of the memorial statue of Charilaos Trikoupis became the subject of extensive coverage in the Athenian press. In the early years of the post-World War II and post-civil war period, a concerted effort to symbolically consolidate the military victory of the National Army against the communist-led Democratic Army became increasingly apparent. The official ideological institutions and mechanisms, such as the educational system, the military or the church attempted to justify in both symbolic and actual terms the final victory of the government forces.