I think we Athenians have to make a decision: it will be years before we see the light (real light, not journalistic light) in the adventure tunnel of the two cinemas Attikon and Apollo on Stadiou Street. Speaking with the president of the Museum of the City of Athens – Vouros Foundation – Eutaxios Antonis Vogiatzis, who personally handles the case after the merger of the two institutions involved, I got the impression of a long, drawn-out process with many branches. especially black holes.

There are three scenarios for restoring the complex on the table, but none of them seem to be moving forward.

There are three scenarios, Mr. Antonis Vogiatzis tells me. Firstly, contacts with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation or the Onassis Foundation, or any third party foundation that comes along the way, will bear fruit to finance the full renovation of the complex. The cost before the energy crisis was estimated at 23 million euros. With the Niarchos Foundation, initial contact did not work out, as due to the pandemic, there were other priorities from the non-profit foundation with a focus on the health sector. To date, there have been no contacts with the Onassis Foundation.

The second scenario is the search for an investor who will use the property for a certain period of time, based on a study prepared by Ioannis Liakatas, Honorary Professor of Architecture at the Athens University of Applied Sciences, which provides, among other things, things, the construction of a hotel complex on the side of Christos Ladas Street, as well as creation of a highly aesthetic garden of 900 sq.m. in gaps that exist or will result from the demolition of unattended buildings on a 3.5-acre property being developed behind the movie theaters. And the third scenario is to carry out the necessary work to ensure the static adequacy of the building and restore the entrance to Stadiou Street in order to re-exploit the two halls, which, we recall, remained untouched after the building. was set on fire during an anti-memorial procession in February 2012. When I asked the President of the Museum of the City of Athens – Vouros Foundation – Eutaxios which of the three scenarios he and his colleagues preferred, Mr. Antonis Vogiatzis answered me without hesitation: “The first one”. And how long did they give, so that if the first scenario does not work, move on to the second? “Time is unlimited,” he tells me sharply. At the very least, there seems to be a desire to decorate the protective sheet metal to soften the current aesthetically barbaric spectacle. As for the planned activities that were announced last winter for the interior of the Apollo, in cooperation with the Municipality of Athens, they were canceled because the appropriate permit was not issued by the city planning department. Three emergency exits are required, and in the current situation, the third exit to Stadiou Street remains inaccessible.