The Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica in Athens encompasses the municipalities of Megara, Mandra-Eidyllia, Eleusis, Aspropyrgos, Chaidari, Agioi Anargyroi-Kamatero, Egaleo, Ilion, Peristeri, Petroupolis, Agia Varvara, Fyli, and Acharnes. It is a Dependent Regional Service of the Ministry of Culture and Sports under the General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage.
The Ephorate conducts archaeological research in its area of responsibility according to Law 3028/2002 and in collaboration with other departments. In addition, it oversees the operation of archaeological museums and sites and processes citizens' requests about construction activities carried out in the district.
The Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica is responsible for:
a) planning and implementing the maintenance, restoration, reconstruction and presentation of monuments and archaeological sites, conducting archaeological research; managing museum artefacts; and overseeing scientific and managerial support activities
b) the discovery, maintenance, conservation, protection, and presentation of antiquities; their display at museums; and the participation in exhibitions at home and overseas
c) the study and publication of discovered artefacts; the stewardship of monuments, archaeological sites, museums and public collections in its district; the participation in international and European programs; the organization and participation in workshops, conferences, seminars and educational activities on issues related to the duties of the Ephorate, as well as the production of conventional and digital publications and educational material
d) overseeing construction projects (excavations, landscaping, etc.) and archaeological surveys and excavations carried out in advance of construction or other land development; processing such cases in cooperation with the central services of the Ministry of Culture, and managing the referral on a case by case basis to the Central Archaeological Council and the Local Council of Monuments of Attica
e) the issuance of permits for the study of archaeological material, photography, cinematography, artistic events, and the free admission of visitors to museums and archaeological sites
f) disseminating the Ephorate’s research work with lectures prepared by its staff and their participation in conferences, as well as the publication of studies and articles in archaeological journals
The mission of the “Athena” RC is to conduct outstanding research in Informatics and Computational Sciences, tackling global challenges and local needs, and producing technological results with impact on other sciences, industry, and the society at large.
For more than 25 years, the “Athena” RC has sustained a culture of innovation, developing high-end technologies, products and services, and cultivating synergies between the entrepreneurial and research worlds. It has founded five spin-off companies and facilitates three industrial clusters in knowledge-intensive thematic sectors.
The vision of the “Athena” RC is to create knowledge and devise solutions and technologies for the digital society. It aims to serve the full spectrum of the research lifecycle, starting from basic and applied research, continuing to system & product building and infrastructure service provision, and ending with technology transfer and entrepreneurship.
The scope of activities of the “Athena” RC includes all Information and Communication Technologies, covering all software and hardware aspects. These include every area of informatics, data science, robotics, automation, signal processing, artificial intelligence, networking and digital communication, and modelling. In addition, computational sciences form a vital component of the “Athena” RC activities, including – but without being limited to – computational linguistics, archaeology, engineering, medicine, biology, biodiversity, earth observation, space science, mechanics, and the arts.
The critical value of the “Athena” RC lies in the deep expertise and extensive experience of more than 350 researchers and other professionals. By participating in more than 300 R&D projects in the last five years and producing more than a thousand publications in the same time frame, the people of the “Athena” RC are the ones giving it its strong international reputation.
