Under the magical shadow of the Acropolis, on its northern and eastern fringes, the neighborhoods of Monastiraki and Plaka still bravely resist the relentless passage of time and human barbarity. Two unique neighborhoods that have condensed Athenian timelessness for six consecutive thousand years, pulsating with life. They have the privilege of claiming the title of the oldest, most historic, and most important neighborhoods of Western civilization.

Thanks to these marvelous events that took place thousands of years ago in Monastiraki and Plaka, these places will always be "full of gods." After all, "humanity knows that even God is from Plaka!" "Only a person with the sensibility of Ms. Skoubourdi could speak with such knowledge, love, kindness – but also pain – about the difficulties of this city: the destructions by the 'barbarians' and Christians from the 3rd to the 7th century; the siege of Morozini and the explosion of the Parthenon in the 17th century; the magnificent buildings that Athens acquired as a capital in the 19th century and in the early 20th, only to see them demolished, vandalized, and destroyed by the war and civil conflicts of the 1940s and by the 'neo-Hellenic barbarity' of post-war Greece.

We need many Skoubourdis. We need many to love again and in a substantive way this "magical city," Athens. Now more than ever, we need to love again and reconnect with our place, our cities, and our villages. Our capital. Ourselves. We need to find our bard, our wise storyteller – for our goods and our bads, our positives and our negatives – just as Athens has found its own in the person of Ms. Skoubourdi.

MARIA D. EFTHYMIOU
Associate Professor of History, University of Athens