ATHENS: Episode 23 - Changing of the Guards at Syntagma Square

Changing of the Guard ceremonies take place at the Presidential Mansion and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is off Syntagma Square below the Hellenic Parliament.

EVZONES

The Evzones or Evzonoi, is the name of several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. Today, it refers to the members of the Presidential Guard, a ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Mansion in Athens.

The uniforms of the elite Evzone Guards are steeped in history, tradition, and symbolism. For example, the “pom-poms” date all the way back to the ancient Mycenaeans. And the skirts of the guards have 400 pleats – one for each year of the Ottoman Empire’s occupation.

SYNTAGMA SQUARE

The Square was designed and constructed in the early 19th century, shortly after King Otto moved the capital of the newly-born Greek Kingdom from Nafplio to Athens in 1834.

About a month after the installation of King Otto and his wife Amalia in late July 1843,[4] a popular and military uprising took place in the Greek Capital on September 3, 1843. Soldiers under Dimitrios Kallergis gathered in front of the Palace and demanded the granting of constitution. King Otto was then obliged to grant the first Constitution of Greece.[2] In memory of the event, the Palace square was renamed to Constitution Square or Syntagma Square in Greek.

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