On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the historical symbol of Athenian life – the Grande Bretagne hotel – the revised 2nd edition of the unique album that narrates the entire business history of the hotel with accuracy and completeness of its data has been published.

This album from Kerkyra-economia Publishing is a useful tool for researchers of modern Greek history. The author, Angelos F. Vlachos, follows its development step by step, from its founding to the present day. At the same time, however, along with the history of the hotel, the history of Athens and the cultural history of Greece are examined, as they naturally move on a parallel trajectory.

The author writes in his Preface: A book about an active business is like a ship that travels: you refer to it and its journeys, without ever knowing how far it might reach. More than twenty years separate this study from the day it started to be written, at the turn of the current century. Since then, international travel activity has skyrocketed, the country has changed, and the hotel has emerged even more magnificent, charting new trajectories and continuing to dominate Athenian tourism.

During the time that has elapsed since the first edition of this hybrid study, many events have occurred – a distinguished Greek thinker once aptly referred to the “cunning of History”: Greek tourism has more than tripled in absolute terms, Greece seems to have recognized its weight as a fundamental pillar of wealth production, and the interest in the origins and trajectories of the phenomenon has bequeathed us interpretive efforts. Under this exact perspective, the Greek hospitality flagship in the heart of the capital has been strengthened.

Consequently, the 150 years of celebrations signify the culmination of an absolutely unique journey of a living myth and clearly set guarantees for an unprecedented continuation.