Greek Royal Palaces and Residences
 

20.03.1999


at the London home of King Constantine of Greece

ETA: Source topfoto/Mandy

It may not be as big as their palace, but it's still a beautiful home. The children must have loved growing up here.

does Nick live there, I heard it somewhere but can´t remember where

are there any ore pictures of the house out there

I have tried to find more pictures but with no luck...

Royal Homes and Palaces
 

I have come across some information regarding the Palace of Tatoi and wounderd if anyone out there new if this was correct or had changed since the following webpage was published in 2001.

http://www.fbarnard.org.uk/greek01/greece01.htm

According to the above webpage, Tatoi is not only closed to the public, but hard to find, railed off and guarded by police and a gaurd dog. I was woundering if this is still the case as I was under the impression from the recent Court Case over it between Constantine and the Greek Government, that Tatoi was being held for the benefit of the Greek people and was therefore open to the public. It seems rather bizzar that the Government paid Constantine all that money as oposed to giving it back to him, only to let it rot.

Thank you Splodger, for the link. The article was very interesting and the pictures, too. Earlier I had seen pictures of Tatoi only from south. It has always been my great wish to see Tatoi Palace myself.

Hi, does anyone have some information about the Royal residence or town of Psychiko. I read in the biography of Queen Sophie of Spain (born Princess of Greece) that she was born in Psychiko, but I couldn't find anything about this place. So if you can help me to find some information, thanks.....

Regards....

Hello, Phychiko is an area in Athens. Many years back most rich people lived there.At the moment it is still a good area but not what it used to be.

i found two more

ETA: Source Seegerpress /Mandy

Royal burial ground Tatoi
 

I am looking for an internet site (with no success) that I can find pictures of the
royal graves at Tatoi. Any help would be most appreicated.

This looks like a fairly normal house.
It must have been very cozy :)

You can find a few more pictures of the Tatoi estate at: www.pbase.com/dead_poet/tatoi_estate

What a gorgeous place that seems to be going to waste. Do you know if it is still is in disrepair or if the state has any plans for it?

As far as I know,the estate remains in the same condition as on the pictures.The government hasn't announced any plans for what is planning to do yet.(Not to my knowledge anyway).

They are thinking....
 

of turning the whole place into a museum!!:mad:

Well i gues a museum dedicated to Royal Greece would be okay...

I don't know....
 

I think it is prohibided for people to enter the place....I remember though that some intruders broke the Crosses of The Royal graves, some years ago and nobody was arrested!!!(I was cursing for days)...

...My oppinion is that police cannot even guard their own posts-few days ago some bandids broke a police station in Athens and burned their cars,so,I doubt if the Tatoi Estate is properly guarded!!!It's a BIG and beautiful place,so a battalion of men with forrest motorbikes won't be enough, and i don't think that police can despose so many men!!!Greek police is also badly... payed...so i can hardly say anything ,besides I don't live in Athens!!

I can only wonder ,if the Greek state has confiscated such a big place wich is also part of the GREEK PEOPLE'S CULTURAL INHERITANCE,and keeps it unguarded,unrestored,why they have confiscated it for???

Why???They better be honest and give it back to It's Owners!No need for police then,and the whole territory arround TATOI estate will increase it's value,because our Royals will be living there !! :o

www.jszw.de/galerie/korfu/ker_monrepos.jpg
The Mon Repos villa at the island of kerkyra(corfu).One of the properties that belonged to the G.R.F.

I personaly would like to see it given back to the GRF but would settle for second best as a museum of the GRF in meantime... just so long as they stop it falling apart like it is now - so sad

The Oldenburgs shouldn't take back ownership of the palace. It's the property of the Greek government and should be utilized as a museum commemorating and documenting Greece's past.

How do you like the idea, of turning your house into a museum of local natural history and place yourself onto a chair, under the script writting MAMAL???!! :p

I agree. It's terrible to let a historic building turn to rubble like that. Do something to keep it around for the next generation.:(

They are not Oldenburgs. They come from the family of Glücksborg

Betina

I'm sorry, I forgot the Oldenburgs died out centuries ago. I meant the Danish Royal Family.

Are They Glugsborg too???

I think they are the Sonderburg-Glucksburgs

The Greek Royal Family are Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, an offshoot of the Danish Royal House, which is itself an offshoot of the Oldenburg dynasty.

According to the almanch de gotha they are oldenburgs.:)

Oldenburg was the root family from which the Glucksburg's came from. Oldenburg is probably closest to the family name as Glucksburg is a territorial name attached to that branch of the Oldenburg family. It is similar to the Houses of York and Lancaster in English history. They were all Plantagenets (sp) but were known as York and Lancaster to distinguish the two branches of the family.

I think that technically the homes and all of the GRF's property in Greece now belong to the government. Since the settlement (albeit small) made by the government to the GRF for the properties, I believe that the properties now belong to the government.

King Constantine wanted for the Greek government to either return the privately owned properties to him and his family or make some sort of financial restitution. I thought that was fair since one of the family's estates had already been turned into a museum and the government was profiting from it. Constantine filed suit in the international courts. The Greek government did pay the family, but nothing near what they asked for or what the properties were actually worth. Therefore, at this point the state can unfortunately do whatever they want with the properties, even nothing if they choose.

Still, it is a pity to have such beautiful historic places simply crumbling away.

Even if they do own them. It isn't right to let them go to waste. I don't like how the greek gov't has treated the former royal family. However, now that are ruining the greek peoples history at least in the sence of landmarks. We were too late to all the others so now they are going to just allow these to fall to ruin, and as far as I can see the only reason is out of spite for the present royal family esp the king. good reason.:rolleyes:

I wounder if it is a case of being surrounded by history they become complacent about it.

When you can look up out of your government office window and see the Parthanon which is something like 3000 years old, then perhaps it is easy to dismiss any part of your history in the last two hundred years as insignificant?

They need to employ a heritage minister to look after all these things better... ohh I wounder who could do that for them :rolleyes:

The ministry of Culture is responsible for the maintenance of historic buildings.The whole of Greece is full of monuments,temples,museums etc. It's not a easy task to try to preserve all of them.The Parthenon has been undergoing maintenance work for years and still hasn't finished.We have to save our ancient heritage first ,which is very important to us, before we move on to the most recent heritage.You can understand the importance of ancient greek culture by the fact that the British museum has been denying the return of the Parthenon sculptures for years.Sculptures and marbles that are propably the most valuable in the entire museum.The oldest the item,the higher the value,you see....

I have to agree with Ellinotati here. Although Tatoi is an important modern royal palace and i hate to see any old building fall in to ruin, in the grand scheem of things the ancient temples etc are more important to preserve for both Greece and the world at large.

However i guess that just brings us back to the age old question of why the Government were so adamant in keeping Tatoi to the point of spending tax payers money set aside for those in need and adding to their list of overheads for the sole purpose of humiliating and depriving one man of his personal heritage :( .

Mainly,the Ministry of Culture! I would purpose to be a Cultoural Center of Royal Heritage{Constant exibition} with places where people walk,children play and learn .Special care about Royal Graves {I mean,everybody to see but nobody to go close}The stables or other buildings can be transformed into classical music theaters or Houses of Opera(There is not One 1 Opera House in whole over Greece!)Art exibitions,Video art ,Technology aspect excibition-everything of high level.The buildings are made of the best material ever!!!

I agree, do some thing with them. and instead of one group of people fixing all. break them up into groups so they can just fix some. Letting modern or present history go saying that there is just too much isn't a good excuse. History is history. the other building are in thier present condition because of thinking like that. imo I don't want to wait for 3000 years for people to realize this. hae someone keep them up at the very least or here's a thought give them back to the royal family so they can take care of them. man i'm brilliant!!;) :p

Or to give them back to The GRF,because the Greek state cannot afford such projects!!:rolleyes:

Tatoi is not a Palace,is an Estate

I don't know what the problem is, but something really needs to be done with these places. The historical importance of the Parthanon is indeed significant, but when considering the history of Greece's former monarchy and the its yo-yo existence from time and the exile of the current royal family, I think that these historical homes are certainly of interest. The stories that could be told are really interesting. I personally think that the changes and ups and downs and even the stories of the interesting members of the GRF are very interesting. Very well known members of the Family were born in some of these homes and I believe that Tatoi or one of the summer homes is a private resting place for several members of the GRF who have passed away. That is indeed significant, IMO and worth preserving.

OK Gang... here is the plan! :D We shall right a letter to the new President when he is elected and tell him to give it back to the GRF as the seems the common concensus here or else we will get very very upset with him :mad: . I know they have already paid him the money but as he is using that for the good of Greece which is what they were supposed to use it for anyway they can call it quits! :)

this building is really very uninteresting, it mainly has sentimental value to the former greek royals and should be sold to them.
On the island of Syros alone I know of many more crumbling 19th century villa's which are from an art historical point of view much more worth saving.
And re the crumbling, it is very often better to crumble than to be wrongly restored.

As for the parthenon, it has suffered more in the past 50 years due to the pollution in athens than in the past 1000 years, everything is melting away.
If they would just take care of that ........

Not only the Ministry of ....
 

culture is involved..Ministries of Public Constructions,Agriculture,of Defence,and of National Economy.Let's not forget that there is a forrest in Tatoi,an airport near by.there will be circulation of money arround the Place..!So, there must be a special organisation to be created who take over the maintenance and exploitation,maybe not only for tatoi,also for all Royal estates....

Why Tatoi must be priveledged??Because for over 150 years everything New concerning Politics, Agriculture,Civilization,Art, was first shown there,and then was passing to the Hellenic State...It was the main "Think Tank"of state of greece for the biggest part of It's History!!!:)

To me, probably the most pressing conservation areas in Greece right now are the Parthenon, and the ancient temples and worship areas at Epidaurus, which are in terrible straights. Some of the temples have decayed very rapidly due to neglect and weather, etc. Delphi is also suffering with the bulk of tourists who come to see and touch the site every year. The oils of their hands, and the moisture from their breath actually accelerates the decay of the monuments, and that, of course, has a terrible effect on things when repeated for several hundred years. Now, while I agree Tatoi is a beautiful place, it was but a favorite residence of the kings, and I don't think much policy was decided there. The Greek kings were constitutional monarchs and the business of the state, civilization, etc. which you proposed were first introduced there, laskaris, I think would probably have been introduced in cities like Athens and Thessaloniki before.

Unfortunatly the Olympic Games put them in debt so there is less money to go around. However it should be noted of course that the current government is not the same government that confiscated Tatoi etc or refused its surrender in the first place. Perhaps Mr Karamanlis will see more sence than Mr Smitas and Mr Papandreou as the New Democracy party are conservative than previous governments and are partialy supported by Monarchists. Unfortunalty as with so many governments, Greece has far to many other issues of concern than the state of a building or two and whether the GRF should be aloud back or not. Out of all the governments, Mr Karamanlis's is the most likely to be "helpfull" towards the GRF and their former property but he really is too busy with other pressing needs like their ecconomy to do anything about it.

All are very good reasons why the gov't should just give back the royal properties back to the royal family so that the people of Greece don't have to worry about them. There is nothing wrong with letting them live in Greece and take care of family estates. That could be part of the agreement of them coming back. I think the point is that they can do something with the property and they aren't doing anything. I mean a shopping mall would work just do something!

It's a
 

beautiful home indeed.But the one in Greece is even better!!:p

I was looking at the picture of the house. Does it continue on to the right or is that the roof of another house?

ARe they going to be given some of their palaces back in Greece.

I am not a 100% sure, but from what i remember seeing of the back of their house and photo's taken from different angles on the front... i think that is another house.

The GRF stand more chance of winning the lottery than ever being given anything by the Greek Government. The Public Palace's such as the one in Athens near the 1896 Olympic Stadium was state property anyway and is now used as the Presidential Palace - so would not be given or sold to them. What was their Private property such as Tatoi - the Greek Government opted to pay the GRF compensation than give the property back. Therefore there is no property left uncompensated to give back, the Government is certainly unlikley to just give them any former property or new property as a gift and they are unlikely to sell the former property back to the GRF either. So cutting a long story short - it is very unlikley that Constantine will ever have the opertunity to live in what was once his family home again.

All I know is a house like that one above would cost about $25 million in downtown Manhattan.

I think it is really sad, the exile and confiscation of public property etc. what is the reason of the deposition of monarchy in Greece?

A very very extensive and debated subject - I beleive many of us discussed at length in the thread "Monarchy in Greece" back in november/december 2003. The link should take you there.

Argument mainly falls to whether King Constantine II handled a series of events effectivly or not, and whether the choices he made were good, bad or the only ones available to him. The topic is discussed passionatly in length on the above link, however reading around the subject would be advisable to form your own conclusions - unltimatly the issue of the Greek Royal Family is a hotley debated subject and passions run very deep between the pro and anti greek monarchists.

Greek royal family's NEW house in Greece
 

http://members4.boardhost.com/alexb247/msg/63047.html

Here is the address. There is too much for me to put up here at this time. Hopefully someone else can do that. I don't want to loss it :D

Here's the photo. I couldn't get it to upload the other day.:o

Re:
 

When are they moving to Greece?

I think it would be nice for people to go and wave them off from their London home!

Ladies, they are not moving to Greece. I have no idea who started this rumor but it is simply not true. The former greek royal family bought a house in Patmos. It's an excellent investment and plus the island is very beautiful. That's all there is to it. They have a long way before even consider coming back to Greece. And even if that was the case, they wouldn't be living on Patmos island (that's just for holidays).

We got it from a magazine that Lia post on another site. It's at the top.;)

Phew! I love having Constantine and Anne-Marie living here!

More news his cousin Prince michel of greece owns a house in Patmos.

Quote from Lia from royal blue
Patmos is a greek island and its where the Apocalypsys (spel) book was writen. Its concidered a holy island and has very old monasteries!Its situated at the aegean sea!

The Greek "King" has a Danish passport so this makes him a European citizen and he is allowed to buy land!!

If that paper is indeed true its nice for them to get a home for vacation here!! (I always thought they would prefer Porto Heli area where they went two years in a row!)

If you want to read the whole thread here's the link:
http://forums.rbhq.net/showthread.ph...213#post104213
Here's another photo:

Administrator note: Here is a link to the picture of the house.

Greek palace
 

The royal family used to own many palaces in Athens,Tatoi,Salonica and the island of Corfu.In 1974 a referendum abolished the monarchy and ever since the palace in Athens became the presidential palace,the Tatoi palace was left to ruin.The ones in Salonica and Corfu were given to the municipalities.Those pictures are from the palace in Tatoi after the European Court of Human Rights compensated the royal family and gave the whole royal family to the Greek state.

http://www.presidency.gr/en/topo8esia.htm

this is the former palace in Athens.

Salonica? The royal family had a palace in Salonica? Whereabouts?
I am aware only of the present Presidential mansion, Tatoi, and Mon-Repos in Corfu
Is it a building used by the municipality of Thessaloniki?

i believe there is also in Salonica.it was constructed just before the family fled abroad in 1967.I dont know the exact location but i do know that it has an awesome view.

Wow!It's the first time I here about this one! i would be very interested in seeing it, but I suppose that even if it is still used, the greek authorities will not rather popularise that it was a building built by and for the royal family

There is also another palace in Palaio Psychico.Rumors say Constantine bought it recently and he will reside there soon.

I know, the one he and Sofia were born and where they used to live before he became a Crown Prince
But i thought that one is still used as an embassy

Never been used.It was left to ruin but recently there are restorations and major works.
The tatoi:http://www.pbase.com/dead_poet/tatoi_estate

This is the Mon Repos :

these pictures are really depressing
why can't they be a bit humane, as the Yugoslavians or the Romanians, to give them nack to Constantine, or at least slightly smart and keep them in a good condition? whether the authorities like it or not, these buildings are a part of greek history and heritage
it's similar to leaving an ancient temple or a church untreated

Actually the whole property now belongs to the state.The tatoi is being restored.

Having lived in Greece for so many years and being a Greek originally, I bet there is not one chance in a million that the state is giving money for improving the condition of anything that is related to monarchy
I thought that the resent conservative government is rather innovative with regard to some topics, but if they really do such a thing I will be deeply surprised

As I 've heard in ALTER,Minister Souflias has signed the restoration Fund!Have I heard wrong??

Has he? That is great news then indeed!
Congs to whoever took this decision! It was time

you have heard correctly!the palace and many other buildings will be restored
and the public will have the right to visit the royal estate which is vast,about 200 000 acres of land.The palace will be used for accomodating foreign leaders or cultural events.In one of the pictures i have posted you can see a building being restored.

The row of future visitors should be limited!There are many dangers to be avoided!!Fire of forrest,damages on expesive and unique items.Iwould suggest the citadel to be opened few hours per day for the public ...

Some kiosks and some wooden tables that are ruining the landscape should be removed IMMEDIATELLY

They should have nationalized the palace so the state could get funding from the international agencies to preserve them. They are part of the nation's history much like the homes of famous writers, painters, heroes etc. The above one does not strike me as much of a palace but of a stately manor or Villa.

Daytona, when I come back much later I'll see if I can find for you the floor plans or sketches if I can find who was the architect that designed it.

I found this:
http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/...n-17773914.jpg

http://www.ellinikietairia.gr/media/articles/Tatoi.jpg

http://www.ellinikietairia.gr/media/...atoi_karta.jpg

Anyone can translate the title?

I did a quick search, no luck with floor plans or sketches

Whow!!!
 

:D They are cool and also have brilliant ideas!!"The Tatoi Chronical"a two volume book describing every inch of Tatoi Estate and it's History!Amazing!
Of cource I've red the French translation:rolleyes: ,(because French is my native language)but as I've heard in Greek is better!!I would suggest everybody to buy it!!

Here is the picture I made a scan off and turned into a poster (I took it to Kinko's, faster cheaper that postage and handling):

Nero's Palace as imagined by Fisher von Erlach

By the way, how do you pronounce Tatoi? I heard it was pronounced "tatee"
can anyone give me a hand with pronunciation?, thanx in advance.

Tatoe.Not tatee

It's Tatoee

The Palace they had at Thessaloniki was near the area of Peraia (Περαία) don't confuse it with Peiraia in Athens.It was small and had a great view at the Gulf of Thermaikos..

has a view to Mount Olympos,and nothing to do with Peraiah! The district is called Aretsou!My wife is from Salonique

Near Peraia is only the airport and the Regency Casino!Next to,and towards the city,is Ai Giannis,then Kalamaria,then Aretsou,and Palataki is in the beginning of Aretsou!On the back side,across Sofouli there are Barracks within stables with mules!!Thats where my wife's next of kin are living! If we go back and next to Palataki there is the Naval administration of the Golf,.. Where are your relatives living??

You are both giving informations known only to Greeks!These,in my opinion,will not help at all other readers and propably are of no interest.

How many former Greek palaces are there?

And it is a shame that some of them have deteriorated as they are definitely an important part of Greece's past, and of course, a potential revenue-earner, as tourists just love palaces.

I believe there are five palaces-mansions.
In Athens the palace(at some point a palace for the monarch and later for the heir to the throne),in Psichico a mansion ,in Tatoi the winter palace( in an estate of 300,000 acres),in Salonica and finally in Corfu.There is also an estate in Larisa(many acres of land used mostly for hunting.In that estate existes a hunting kiosk but it was only used once during the 150 years of monarchy)

Tatoi
 

If anyone is interested in relatively recent photos of Tatois palace state, I found this article dated 15/11/05. It seems to be rather run down.

http://www.forthnet.gr/templates/new....aspx?p=141969

AKIOU

thanks, it looks like a rather desolate place. I hope the King will be able to buy it back one day, especially as his anscestors are burried there.

He recently said in Point de Vue that he is working out an arrangement, so who knows.

The residence in Psychiko is abandoned and in decay next to a friend's home that I know there.That is a travesty.

Palaces; Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra
 

Those beautiful residences in Greece belonging to the Royal family.
I wonder about the Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra of them.
From what I have seen of Tatoi I think it had
difficult architecural energy to commandeer. I wonder about all the residences ofthe royals in Greece
and how Feng Shui is applicable along with Vastu Shastra. That includes
Mon Repos where HRH Prince Philip was born.

That is the subconscious collectivist mind speaking PERHAPS as they allow it to rot.
in Greece they all want to be kings now. I mean they had the audacity to ask the KING who has a "calling" what is his profession. People with a " calling" do not have a sideline they are called. Ifbeingking was a profession and is subject to their revisionsim that is one heck of a severance pay the king should have received.

According to a greek tv station Konstantinos new house is almost ready.It is located at the old Athens,under Acropolis,named Plaka.It is an old house,restored which costed 2 million euros.The family is searching for another house to an even more posh quartier called Ekali since the house in Plaka is meant for Nikolaos.

?
 

Hello, i just read this thread and i have a few questions. Firstly, who is Ada in the article? Secondly, where is the Palace in Athens which is larger than the one in Tatoi? i'm stuck and although i have sth in mind i'd like someone to take me out of my confusion. thanks in advance.

And I have questons also, since I'm not familiar with the GRF.
First of all, why was the family sent into exile, besides the fact that they got rid of the monarchy. Did the King do something wrong or illegal? Were their lives in danger?
And if the Rf paid for Tatoi out fo their own personal funds, why would the King have to "buy" it back from the goverment when it is rightfully his/thiers.
When they fled into exile, I know they only took the jewels and left everything else behind and that later the goverment allowed the King to go back and get "certain" things that belonged to his family. Does that mean since the moment they fled, everything else has remained in the house or did the goverment empty out the house and put everything in a secure holding?
I apologize for my ignorance in advance, but I've never really had an interest in the Greek RF until now and their is only basic stuff on the King and Queens relationship on these threads.
thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions.:flowers: