Athens Street Art

Location: Kerameikos

It is a fact that Athens is home to plenty of significant points of interest, including archaeological sites, museums, and cultural centers. At the same time, though, it is a vibrant place that has inspired local street artists for years now. That has led to the creation of thousands of graffiti throughout the city that draw the attention of anyone passing by them due to their vivid colors, careful design, and the message that want to pass to the spectators.

Table of Contents:
• General info • Locations & Artists • Famous Artworks • Tours

General information

Over the past years and especially during and after the decade of the big economic crisis (2008-2018), the art scene in Athens flourished. Greek artists felt the need to express their thoughts and emotions while foreign artists from all over the world visited Athens and made the city their new home.

Old abandoned houses, massive blank concrete walls as well as boxes of the National Telephone Company, became the ideal canvases for some of the most wonderful pieces of street art and murals.

Furthermore, festivals, the School of Fine Arts as well as the Municipality of Athens, commissioned huge murals by famous artists in order to add color to the city. Numerous hotels, cafes and restaurants following the urban trend drew their exterior walls with beautiful graffiti and designs.

Street art locations and artists

Athens is an open-air gallery where you will find beautiful graffiti and murals in every corner. The neighborhoods with the most stunning ones are Exarchia, Gazi, Kermeikos, Psiri, Plaka, Syntagma, Monastiraki and Omonia.

Walking around the city, even in the least expected places, you will find works of Wild Drawing, INO, Sonke (Alekos Skoutariotis), Achilles, UrbanAct, Oré, Soteur (Sotiris Fokeas), Cacao Rocks (Iason Megoulas), as well as Alexandros Vasmoulakis and Woozy (Vangelis Hoursoglou) and many more talented street artists.

Unique street artworks

The walls of thousands of buildings of all kinds have served as canvases for street artists to express themselves and coming across many impressive ones during your stroll in Athens is certain.
We have gathered the ones we consider among the most spectacular and present them below, along with their location.

• Knowledge speaks - Wisdom listens by Wild Drawing in Metaxourgio
Location: 53-55 Konstantinou Paleologou Street
• Praying For Us by Pavlos Tsakonas and Manolis Anastasakos in Omonia
Location: 20 Pireos Street
• Colorful Tsunami by Woozy in Metaxourgio
Location: 63 Megalou Alexandrou Street
• System of a Fraud by INO in Metaxourgio
Location: 6 Achilleos Street
• Smiling Faces by Alexandros Vasmoulakis in Monastiraki
Location: Iroon Square
• We Have the Power by INO in the port of Piraeus
Location: 4 Akti Tzelepi Street

Street art tours

Although you can randomly spot street art via wandering around Athens, it is strongly recommended to book a street art walking tour.
Since most of the works are scattered in different parts of the city while it's in the nature of ephemeral art to appear or disappear overnight, taking a guided tour is the best option in order to keep traces of this alternative art scene.
A guide will also share facts about the work and the artist as well as information about the neighborhood or the building on which the mural is embedded with you.

The most thriving guided tours are:

• • Athens Original Street Art Tour: This 3-hour tour is run by a street artist himself. Through it, you will discover three neighborhoods and their fascinating art scene on foot. The meeting point is in Thissio Metro Station.
• • Guided Urban Street-Art Tour: During this 2-hour tour, you will be exploring different districts of Athens such as up-and-coming areas as well as more underground ones. You will have the chance to discover some of the most colorful graffiti and impressive murals on the streets with the help of an informative guide!