It was in 1848, when the Queen Amalia bought an estate north of Athens, in today’s Ilion. Six years later, the inauguration of the royal mansion takes place and today, 170 years later, Pyrgos Vasilissis writes a new chapter in its history. It opens its doors and guides many people through its history, offering a rich bundle of experiences and knowledge from the years of Queen Amalia until today.
It is a restored and visitable monument, a mosaic of our history that functions today as a witness of those times, but also as a recreation pole.
View of the Vasilissa Tower with the garden of Amalia, the monumental entrance and the large marble fountain.
Gothic style
The timing of the publication of the book “The King’s Tower” by Capon publications seems more than interesting… The King’s Tower, a Gothic style in imitation of the Hochenschwangau tower in Bavaria where Othon lived his childhood, is the subject of his study Santa Kutsavli, whom many of us know as the president of the active Association of Friends of the Tatoi Estate, however, in recent years, we have seen him guiding the thousands of visitors to the royal mansion in Ilion, organizing numerous activities. Mr. Koutsavlis’ research became a wonderful book, illuminating unknown aspects of history “re-establishing an invisible thread that perhaps culturally unites the two landmarks”, the former Royal Estate of Tatoi and the Tower of Vasilissis in Ilion.
Just thirty minutes from the center of Athens, the tower that Queen Amalia chose to build in 1851 “opens” a window to the first years of the creation of the independent Greek state and spans the years following the assassination of the first governor of Greece, Kapodistria, until 1862 with the eviction of the royal couple Othona and Amalia from the country. In 1834 the young King Othon arrives in Athens. His reception takes place in a festive atmosphere in front of the temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora.
As the author describes in his book, Othon lives in a one-story house that was granted to him, on Adrianou Street, in Plaka. “According to the data of the time, the population of Athens does not seem to exceed 4,000 people” Mr. Koutsavlis notes in his study and refers to the reconstruction plan of the city: “Bavarian and French architects and urban planners overwhelmed the capital and planning begins city’s”. One can see this evolution of Athens through excellent maps and models housed today in the Museum of the City of Athens, in Klathmonos Square. The author’s descriptions introduce us in the following pages to the grand plans of Otho and his father, Ludovico, for the construction of the palaces of Athens.
Marriage
With a flowing narrative and historical evidence, the book takes us on a journey through Othon’s marriage with her Duchess Maria Frederiki Amalia of Oldenburg, while the following pages mention the three areas proposed for the royal residence: Othonos square (now Omonia square), the Kerameikos area, at the junction of Piraeus and Ieras Odos streets, and the Hill of Analampi, in the place where today stands the Parliament, an area that was finally chosen. After the relocation of the royal couple to the new palace on Syntagma Square, Amalia proceeds to create the adjacent, private basilica of her garden. “At the Queen’s behest, the 155-acre garden would be scientific and botanical.” The composition of Amalia’s personal action in shaping the current National Garden is intertwined with historical events.
“Eptalofos”
Before the Royal Garden in Athens was completed, Amalia purchased a large area of land north of the city, in present-day Ilion. She herself gave her estate the name “Eptalofos”. The land market in Attica exploded following the transfer of the capital to Athens in 1834. The estate that Queen Amalia bought in Ilion was originally a Turkish smallholding, which was gradually transferred to Greek owners. “We observe the same in the area of Tatoi, where following the liberation the Ottoman farms there pass to the Soutzou-Katakouzinos families” comments Mr. Koutsavlis. In 1848 the estate was bought by Dimitrios Kontakis. The queen, with successive purchases of neighboring lands, will create by 1861 an estate with a total area of 2,500 acres and will assign its formation to the two palace gardeners, Schmidt and Baro.
“Its goal was to create a model center of agriculture and animal husbandry, so to speak, according to the standards of the operation of agricultural universities. The farm was planted with thousands of fruit trees, 3,700 mulberry trees, many pistachio trees, regarding 180 acres of vines, hundreds of olive trees and rare plants from abroad,” the author describes. The two buildings, the Hochenschwangau tower and castle, despite their significant difference in size, have many elements in common. Their similarities are both in the exteriors, polygonal towers, ramparts, arched windows, entrance gate, and in their interiors, the rooms, the furniture and the general decoration. The architect of the Greek building is believed to be Francois Louis Florimont Boulanger (François Louis Florimond Boulanger, 1807-1875), since he supervised the interior decoration of the building.
Vassilis Koutsavlis, president of the active Tatoi Estate Friends Association, goes back in time to the first years of the creation of the independent Greek state up to 1862 and the eviction of the royal couple Othon and Amalia from the country.
Boulanger
It is noteworthy that during the research, Vassilis Koutsavlis, who has studied in depth the functioning of many estates, castles and palaces in Europe, discovered the most fascinating unique piece of evidence for the history of the Vasilissis Tower. This is a series of drawings by the Frenchman François Louis Florimont Boulanger for the Basilisse Tower. The six plans featured exclusively in the book are of the second floor of the tower and the great hall of the gates with the adjacent Queen Amalia’s room and hall. In 1845, Boulanger traveled to Greece, as an envoy of the French Ministry of the Interior, to study Greek antiquities. “In 1848, Queen Amalia bought the estate in Ilion and apparently entrusted him with the construction of her tower and its interior decoration” is noted in the book and as explained, all this reinforces the view that through the list of his plans, which are kept today in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lille, and from the date on the plans, they were completed in 1853, a year before the inauguration of the tower. In most, Boulanger refers to the tower as Castel Royal près d’Athènes.
View of the large hallway leading to the ground floor
in the background and to the right of the turret with the semicircular staircase to the upper floor.
Decoration of unique beauty
Passing the threshold of the gates and the long avenue with olive trees, the imposingness of the tower impresses. It has four levels: the basement, the ground floor, the first floor and the roof. The ground floor is occupied by a reception room with a wonderful ceiling painting, while paintings and lithographs from the life of Othon and Amalia adorn the walls. “The tower had no toilet or kitchens” as Amalia did not usually sleep in the tower, however the staff houses were operated during her day stay as she returned to Athens in the late followingnoon.
Above, the ground floor reception room. The works of art and lithographs belong to the private collection of Pyrgos Vasilissis and decorate the entire area of the ground floor.
Below, restoration works of the painted decoration of the great hall of the gates.
Through a hall of Gothic decoration one enters the impressive hall of coats of arms, which occupies almost the entire first floor, with the coats of arms of Greece, Bavaria and Oldenburg. The cellar of the tower is also located in part of the basement. It was a model estate not only during the years of Amalia but also following the creation of the first company, “Agrotiki Etairia Pyrgos Vasilissis AE”, in 1931. The production of fine wines on the estate is a tradition that continues to this day!
By closing the book, the reader has an excellently documented reading that reads breathlessly, like a novel. And this writing of his with the thorough research of Vassilis Koutsavlis is his great advantage because it revives what the visitor encounters on the guided tours that are organized. “Visiting the Vasilissis Tower is a unique experience” Vassilis Koutsavlis describes without hesitation, as “all the perspectives of agritourism are utilized and the public is offered a rich journey of knowledge and revival of experiences, through the authentic interior decoration and the gardens, the organic vineyard, the stables with the horses, as well as the winery, which are at the same time valuable material for the operation of the tower which today belongs to the Agricultural and Livestock Commercial Real Estate Company of Ilio SA”.
Info
“KING’S TOWER. YESTERDAY AND TODAY”
AUTHOR: VASILIS KOUTSAVLIS
EDITIONS: KAPON
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