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Kallithea

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==Location==
[[Kallithea]] ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Καλλιθέα [http://www.kallithea.gr/map.htm map], meaning "good view") is the 8th biggest municipality in [[Greece]] (110,187 inhabitants, 2001 census) and the 4th biggest in Greater Athens (following [[Athens]] itself, [[Piraeus]] and [[Peristeri]]). The centre of Kallithea (Davaki Square) lies at a distance of 3 km to the south of the Athens city centre (Syntagma Square) and 3 km to the north-east of the Piraeus city centre (Korai Square). Kallithea extends from Filopappou and Sikelia hills in the north to the [[Phaleron Bay]] in the south. Its two other sides consist of [[Syngrou Avenue ]] to the east (border to the towns of [[Nea Smyrni]] and [[Palaio Faliro]]) and Ilisos river to the west (border to the towns of [[Tavros]] and [[Moschato]]).
The site on which the city was developed covers the biggest part of the area to the south of Athens, protected in the ancient times (5th century BC) by the Long Walls to the west and the Phaleron Wall to the east. Somewhere within this area the ancient town of Xypete existed. This town and its citizens are mentioned amongst elsewhere in [[Plato]]'s Dialogues.
Between the first (1896) and the recent (2004) modern Olympic Games in Athens the city of Kallithea grew significantly. First the tramway depot and workshop were built there (1910) followed by the Harokopios Graduate School (1925) and the Panteios Graduate Scholl of Political Sciences (1928).
In the [[1920s ]] the town was flooded by the thousands of refugees after the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)]], the [[Asia Minor Catastrophe ]] (1922) and the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (1923). These refugees arrived in Kallithea mainly from the south Black Sea ([[Pontus]], from [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] cities such as [[Sinope]] (now Sinop, Turkey), [[TurkeySampsus]]), Sampsus (now Samsun, Turkey), Kerasus [[Cerasus]] (now Giresun, Turkey), [[TrapezousTrapezus]]-[[Trebizond]] (now Trabzon, Turkey), Tripolis (now Tirebolu, Turkey), Argyroupolis (now Gümüshane, Turkey) and other remnants of the late [[Byzantine Empire]].
A few had arrived earlier ([[1919]]) from the north and east (russian) coasts of the Black Sea, from places such as Odessos (Odessa), Marioupolis (Mariupol', Sea of Azov) and other, after the failed attempt of the western allies (Greece included) against the young Bolshevik state during the Russian Civil War.
Black Sea immigrants of Greek origin also settled in Kallithea in the [[1930s]], as a result of the change of soviet policy towards [[ethnic groups]]. Their origins were mainly in the east coast of the Black Sea (Batumi, Sokhumi, Novorossiysk, Anapa etc.)
The first refugees settled originally in the site of the Olympic Shoting Range (1896) until they were gradually transferred to new dwellings. After its evacuation the building of the Shooting Range served as a scholl until the Nazi Occupation ([[Nazi1941]] Occupation (1941) when it was converted to prison. The prison of Kallithea was demolished in [[1966]]. Among other, fighters of the Greek Resistance and victims of the [[Greek Civil War]] had been jailed there (e.g. [[Nikos BeloyannisBeloyiannis]]).
In the [[1990s]], after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a new wave of Greek immigrants arrived in Kallithea from the east coast of the Black Sea, from the Caucasus highlands in Georgia as well as from distant settlements in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan where their Black Sea Greek ancestors were expelled during Stalin's regime in the 1930s.
Until 2004 south Kallithea (Tzitzifies) housed the only horse track in Greece (Ippodromos - Hippodrome) which moved to Markopoulon near the [[Eleftherios Venizelos Airport]]. The same area of the city (Tzitzifies) is associated with the development of greek folk music ([[Rebetiko]] and later [[Laiko]]). Popular composers and singers used to perform there ([[Markos Vamvakaris]], [[Vassilis Tsitsanis]], Yannis [[Yiannis Papaioannou(rebetika)|Yiannis Papaioannou]], [[Marika Ninou]], [[Sotiria Bellou]], [[Manolis Chiotis]], [[Mary Linda]], Yorgos [[Giorgos Zambetas]], [[Stelios Kazantzidis]], [[Marinella]], [[Poly Panou]], [[Viki Moscholiou ]], etc.)
Kallithea houses two universities (Harokopion and Panteion), numerous cultural associations and several sport clubs, the most well known among which are [[Kallithea FC]] (soccer) and [[Esperos]] (basketball, volleyball, handball, tabletennis as well as soccer in the past).
==Transportation==
The city is accessed from the east by [[Syngrou Avenue]], from the south by Poseidonos Avenue, from the north and west by Kifissos Avenue/[[Greece Interstate 1|GR-1]] and from the Athens centre by Thisseos Avenue (via Syntagma, Amalias, Syngrou). The metropolitan railway (line 1 stations Kallithea and Tavros), the tramway (stations Kallithea and Tzitzifies) and numerous bus and trolley-bus lines along the Thisseos, Syngrou and Posseidonos Poseidonos Avenues connect Kallithea to almost any destination in the Athens basin.
==Sites of interest==

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