Галаци: пригород Афин и его история

Northern suburb of Athens, Greece

Galatsi (Γαλάτσι, Galátsi ), called in Katharevousa Galatsion (Γαλάτσιον, Galátsion), is a town, a northern suburb of Athens agglomeration, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. The municipality has an area of 4.026 km2. Until the mid 20th century, the area was mainly made up of farmlands but due to the continuous expansion of the Greek capital, Galatsi was rapidly urbanised and has come to lie in the center of the Athens agglomeration.

Although several etymologies have been proposed about the origin of the name Galatsi, which already appears in the book of 1870, History of Athens, it originates from the surname of Symeon Galakis, a squire who purchased lands around the church of Agia Glykeria in 1851. Consequently, the whole area was given his name, which, according to the phenomenon featuring the old Athenian phonology and known as tsitakism, was pronounced 'Galatsis', thus the name of the area was finally Galatsi. An alternative theory suggests that it derived from gala, the Greek word for the milk that the shepherds of the area's rangelands yelled hovering around in order to sell their products.

Galatsi is an inner suburb of the Athens urban area and is located northeast of the city centre. Its built up area is continuous with those of Central Athens and neighbouring suburb Nea Ionia. It is one of the most densely populated areas of Athens, with a high percentage of its lands covered by flora though, as the hill of Tourkovounia with its forests and the park Alsos Veikou are among the major "green lungs" within the centre of Athens. The famous Grava school complex is located there, as are many other educational foundations and public and private institutes.