Industrial walking tour in Tavros and the Eleonas of Athens with the use of historical banking archives

Abstract

The thesis evolved over a period of four years and examines the creation of an industrial walking tour in the area of Tavros and the Eleonas of Athens through the study of historical banking archives pertaining to the Reconstruction period (1948-1951) and the following decades in Greece that were deposited in the Historical Archives of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation. Financial archival sources provided material for stories that seek to animate the industrial landscape. Specific themes refer to the gradual electrification of manufacturing plants, the import of raw material, the presence of entrepreneurs and industrial workers, modernization practices, the evolution of the industrial landscape and the construction and maintenance of manufacturing firms in Tavros. The European Recovery Program (ERP) was instrumental for the industrialization of the former agricultural area of Tavros. The process of «cultural anamnesis» evoked through the built heritage that is preserved or enters the realm of memory is reinforced by the use of banking archives and takes into consideration the results of historical scholarship relating to the period under examination. The industrial walking tour of the Historical Archives of PIOP for general audiences has been offered in Tavros since 2019.