Rizari Park

Near the War Museum, between two busy avenues, there is a green oasis of exclusively Mediterranean flora. It covers an area of 10 acres and is bordered by Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue and Rizari Street. It is a green space in the heart of the city, ideal for recreation and walking. The plants were bequeathed in 1844 by Georgios Rizaris, a former member of the "Filiki Etaireia" (Society of Friends), perhaps the most important of the secret societies formed in the midst of Greece's struggle for liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Rizaris' wish was to create a garden in the center of the city for the recreation of the youth. David Harding took two lines from Samuel Beckett's poem "Cascando" (1936) to mark the lines of the park: "If you don't love me, I'll never be loved / if I don't love you, I'll never love." Inside the park there is a subway station and the church of Saint George of Rizario. Within the Park there is a metro station and the Church of Saint George of Rizarios Ecclesiastical School.