Builders, Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens
This page avoids major plot turns, twists, and ending details. It’s designed to help first-time viewers decide if this movie is right for them.What counts as a spoiler can vary by viewer.
A documentary about the most distinctive Athenian building type, the polykatoikía, and the reconstruction of the city through the life of the anonymous regular builders. Who were the provincials who came to Athens with their wives after the Civil War and ‘cemented’ the city? Who ‘demolished’ the neoclassical buildings and filled Athens with apartment buildings? Ηow did they learn and develop their craft? How did they communicate and negotiate with the architects, the ‘educated’? In other words, what was the story of their encounter with the ‘project of modernity’? The documentary is based on Ioanna Theocharopoulou’s book sharing the same title, revised and published in 2021 by the Onassis Foundation.
