Athens Centre is an educational organization founded in 1969 to sponsor academic and cultural activities in Greece.
The Centre is located in Mets, a residential area of central Athens, about 15 minutes walk from the heart of the city at Syntagma (Constitution) Square. Mets is well-served by public transportation by bus, metro, tram and trolley from many areas of Athens, and is perhaps the greenest area of the city, with parks nearby including the Zappeio and National Gardens, Pangrati Park, and the woods around the old Olympic Stadium where the first modern Olympics were held.
The Centre is affiliated with more than 20 American colleges and universities in offering diverse programs, including Semesters in Greece, summer arts programs, January terms, Maymesters, and other longer and shorter sessions throughout the year. These university programs have traditionally emphasized Classical, Byzantine and modern Greek history and civilization. Without neglecting this heritage, the Centre also cooperates with departments as diverse as mathematics, geology, health care, and psychology, amongst others, to bring students to Greece on programs which look into the history of their discipline in ancient and modern Greece.
The Athens Centre’s year-round modern Greek language program is one of the most comprehensive in Greece, and attracts participants from all parts of Europe, the U.S. and Canada, South America and Asia. Members of the diplomatic community, business people working in Athens, children of Greeks who emigrated abroad, EU translaters and interpreters, and students of Classical studies are only some of the people who come to the Centre to take courses in modern Greek.
Cultural events sponsored throughout the year include lectures, poetry readings, theatre productions, musical evenings, film screenings, and other activities to which students and friends of the Centre are invited. Embassies, organizations based in Greece, and other educational institutions are also welcome to use the Centre as a venue for their special events.
