In collaboration with the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre of the Academy of Athens, AIA hosts the photographic exhibition titled "Eleonas – The Olive Grove of Goddess Athena” from September 3rd to December 31st, 2014.

Through the unique photos of Andreas Smaragdis, travellers and visitors of the airport have the opportunity to take a glance at the place where the Greek gods had their garden and temple but which underwent a complete transformation during most of the 20th century.

The Olive Grove of Goddess Athena used to spread from the base of Mount Parnitha, Mount Penteli and Hymettus Hill to Dafni, Piraeus and Faliro, following a parallel course with Kifisos, the most important river of Attica in ancient years. Today, stripped of olive trees, pasture land and tillable parts, this former rural countryside has been trapped with no planning at all in the urban tissue and has borne industrial and commercial installations and depots.

Through the exhibition "Eleonas – The Olive Grove of Goddess Athena" the photographic lense reveals the landscape of the sacred Olive Grove and attempts to capture in an objective way nuggets of myth and timeless human interventions that shaped its current appearance. In this way, these images from different angles become simultaneously mirrors of the social and cultural groups that have marked this great site and help the Olive Grove claim its recognition as a special landscape worthy to be preserved and protect the holy city to which the legend is connected.