The Estate Remembers
«I witnessed the first Bavarians arrive…»
«I had days of grandeur…»
«I endured the silence of neglect…»
«And today I am born again…» …
«It all started here»
I remember… before I even had a name
In the early 19th century, this was a lush countryside — streams, trees, orchards and fields with all kinds of crops. Located just outside Athens, it was a place with great microclimate and natural beauty.
In 1837, just a few years after the formation of the modern Greek state, Bavarian families arrived here as part of a military colony established under King Otto.
They brought with them their language, practices, crops, customs, and a new way of living.
…so, Heraklion became known as Little Bavaria.
Local memory still whispers a particular story.
It is said that in order to choose the ideal site for the colony, the local climate was tested in an ingenious way. The story goes that the Bavarians placed pieces of meat at various points across Attica, so that by observing how quickly they spoiled, they could determine where the most favorable climate was to be found. A tale that passed from generation to generation like a legend.
History or myth?
Perhaps both.
This is where
the first families settled.
The entrance to the mine in Kymi.
That is how it all started…
When in 1833 the seventeen-year-old Otto arrived in Nafplio as the first King of Greece, he was accompanied by an entourage of Bavarian officers, soldiers, scientists, and craftsmen. Among them was the metallurgist Johann Adam Fuchs (1797–1851), who was entrusted with the organization of the mines at Kymi and Lavrio.
Most of the Bavarians, among them Johann Adam Fuchs, settled in Arakli, that is present-day Heraklion, Attica. They chose the area for its favorable microclimate. There they founded the Bavarian military colony, a small community with houses and a school.
Johann Georg Fuchs
In May 1851, Johann Georg Fuchs, son of Johann Adam Fuchs, arrived in Greece. He found Piraeus to a disappointing place, so the young man set out on foot to reach Heraklion and his father’s house. When nearing the area of Magkoufana (present-day Pefki), he saw a gang of bandits shoot a man in the dark on the public road. He kneeled to help him, and then he saw it was his own father.
Despite his immense grief, he was captivated by the region and decided to stay forever in this lovely corner of Greece — in the area where his beloved father had lived. In Heraklion.
Johann Karl Fuchs
Johann Karl Fuchs was born in 1832 in Mühldorf, Bavaria, where he studied brewing. As soon as he settled in Greece, he was naturalized as Karolos Ioannis Fix, and began producing beer, driven by the fact that there were many Bavarian officers living in Heraklion.
In 1858, he founded the first small brewery — its ruins survive to this day on Irakleiou Street, opposite the Church of Saint Luke. The German surname “Fuchs,” pronounced “Fooks,” was rendered by the Greeks as “Fix” — a name destined to become synonymous with beer.
Fix beer, the first beer available in Greece
Fix beer, the first beer available in Greece, was so good that it earned Karolos Fix the title of official purveyor to the royal court, a distinction he retained even when King Otto left and the Danish George I became king.
At the same time, Ioannis Fix acquired land here.
An estate spanning 27 stremmata. 27,000 sq.m. or 7 acres
That is when my transformation began.
In the early 20th century, the summer villa was built.
Neoclassical, eclectic, imposing.
Around the villa, there were auxiliary buildings, gardens, storehouses, trees, water wells, life.
The photo is from the book “Once in our Paleo Herakleio” by Yiannis Antoniou Rossolatou.
I remember the sound of laughter on the verandas...
Kids playing carefree...
I remember
Receptions.
Strolls.
Athens’ high society spending their summers here.
I was not merely a villa.
I was a place of gathering.
In my gardens and courtyards, young people and groups of friends would gather. They laughed, shared their time and space, breathing life into every corner of me.
I was a place that brought people together...
I was not only a villa...
I was everyday life.
And my walls held stories.
And they remember them.
My story did not remain confined within my grounds...
It spread far beyond.
The Fix family was associated with the birth of industrial Greece.
The Fix brewery was the first organized brewery of the modern Greek state.
A venture that left its mark on the economic and industrial history of the country.
From Heraklion to Kolonaki and later to Syngrou Avenue, the name Fix became the symbol of an era of modernization.
Labels....
Posters...
Advertisements...
Industrial aesthetics...
Progress...
And I, although I was a residence and not a factory, remained a part of this story.
A witness to a changing Greece...
Then came the silence.
The voices thinned.
The doors closed.
Time began to leave its marks upon me.
Abandonment. Decay. Ruins.
Imagining me alive again.
Fighting for my salvation.
Considering me their own.
I was not merely a property.
I was a part of the city.
And the city did not forget me.
Even in the years of silence.
And then came justice
For decades the city had been claiming me.
Waiting for me.
Imagining me alive again.
In April 2021, the Municipal Council of Heraklion, Attica, under Mayor Nikos Bambalos, took a historic and difficult decision: the compulsory expropriation of my land.
The decision required a reinforced majority — the ruling party(municipal administration) had only 15 of the 31 votes.
It required alliances.
It required going beyond what seemed possible.
There was no unanimous consent.
However, the efforts of the municipal administration, the contribution of the CITIZENS’ NETWORK group, and the support of an independent city councilor, resulted in finding a way for my return to the people of Heraklion.
Oι δημοτικοί σύμβουλοι που το ψήφισαν
It was not an easy victory
Many difficulties, delays, and disputes.
But there was persistence.
And there was a result.
In December 2022, my land passed into the ownership of the Municipality and its residents.
After four decades of waiting, the city managed to reclaim what had always belonged to it.
A new chapter
Not the end of a story. But the beginning.
Today I am not just another landmark.
I am a place returning to life.
A place that belongs to its people again.
“This is not only a place that was saved. It is a memory that returned to the city.”
