THE SECRET OF THE SACRED RIVER

Ardittos House and the Secret of the Sacred River

A landmark building in Mets, long abandoned and incomplete at the junction of Markou Mousourou and Ardittou streets, breathes anew. Its proximity to ancient ruins, the Parthenon and Ilissos River—along with the sweeping vistas of the Attic basin—awaken a stream of associations about the passage and imprint of time.

In a conversation, architect Nikolaos Travasaros shared with me the vision that guided his design of the building. He spoke of three notions that proved vital to both the conception and the realization of the project: Harmony, Timelessness, and Aesthetic Grace.

With this conceptual triad in mind, I created a wall piece carved in stone, destined for the building’s entrance. Its inspiration flows from the sacred river Ilissos, which in ancient times coursed through the very land before the building. The work, titled The Secret of the Sacred River, is a cryptographic message—an encoded inscription, like an ancient fragment. It resembles an enigmatic relic unearthed from the bed of the Ilissos, calling us to decipher its hidden meaning.

Ardittos House is more than a building of offices and residences. It is an experience—of aesthetics, of memory, and of contemplation. Every corner, every detail invites—and at once challenges—both inhabitant and passerby to breathe new meaning into the notions of Harmony, Timelessness, and Aesthetics.

The Secret of the Sacred River seeks, through its concept and form, to deepen the experience of a journey through the riverbed of time, memory, and the senses.

V.D.

The Chronicle of the Work
(an imagined history)

Near the dry bed of the Ilissos River, a stone slab was unearthed. Etched on its surface were markings—symbols like letters from an unknown script, belonging to no language we recognize.

This mysterious writing moved with a peculiar rhythm, revealing a hidden geometry. In time, someone deciphered it.

What emerged were words—words as ideas. Among them, one recurred more than any other: Harmony.

Harmony: the attunement of all things—the confluence, the accord, the absence of strife. An ancient Greek principle of the well-governed state, a vital modern plea, a hope for the world to come. Other words inscribed on the slab include: Measure, Beauty, Unity, Humanity, Equality, Justice, Gentleness, Creation.

It appears that in antiquity, people followed a sacred rite in which they cast small clay plaques—ostraka—into the Ilissos. On these plaques, single words were inscribed. These notion words—perhaps their wishes —were sent downstream like messages in a bottle, cast into time to be remembered. It is said that as they threw the ostraka into the flowing water, they spoke the words aloud, with force and reverence.

It is also said that this river, the Ilissos, possessed magic. It listened. It remembered. It held those words, carrying them faithfully through the current of time.

As the river dried, many such ostraka were uncovered; among them, the stone slab.

This inscription stands as an ode—to Harmony, and to the Sacred River. A message from the deep past, urging us to contemplate—and protect—the words and ideas it preserved, like a timeless ark shielding memory from erosion.

V.D.