The annexation of Athens into the Ottoman Empire initiated the city’s structural development and the introduction of new building types that served the needs of the new rule. Buildings like hamams, mosques, tekkes and madrasas contributed into the formation of the very interesting topography of ottoman Athens.
Since the mid 17th century the city Europeans once considered lost comes to light, rediscovered by the travelers. Their works depicted the impressive conjunction of minarets, byzantine churches and the interspersed antiquities. Shortly, liberation and the selection of Athens as the new capital of the newly established state lead into the planning of the new city and set the preexistent old city part into a new basis.
The primary attempt is to list all public ottoman buildings, temporal and religious, and to outline the urban composition of the medieval Athens. Using references to the existing bibliography, the huge travelers’ production, the press and the available archives, all the temporal public buildings of Athens are being introduced and examined. Specifically, the buildings analyzed are the ottoman public baths or hamams, the administrative buildings and the madrasa. Moreover there is an extensive report on the way these buildings were altered and the new uses they obtained, after the liberation of Greece, when they were called to serve the needs of the new capital.