The forgotten, invisible safe spaces under Athens

A network of thousands of underground spaces are scattered beneath Athens. Pedestrians hurry past them, not suspecting that the metal lid of a manhole they have just stepped on is one of the gates to a vast web of spaces, which for decades has been sealed in silence and oblivion. Athens' bomb shelters were established by the regime of General Ioannis Metaxas before the Second World War, in the years 1936-1940, which the author and researcher Konstantinos Kyrimis has been methodically recording for over a decade. Kyrimis spoke to Kathimerini about those underground spaces, revealing a different, unknown aspect of urban history.

How did this adventure begin for you?

Having visited an air raid shelter in Piraeus 12 years ago, I became interested to know if there were more, as well as whether I could visit them. Along the way, I saw that not only were...