Georgiou I Square (Greek: Plateia Georgiou I) is Patras's central square. The square is named after George I of Greece. The square is 134 km (old: about 145 km) west of Corinth, 216 km (old: 238 km) west of Athens, 96 km (old: 100 km) northeast of Pyrgos, 144 km northwest of Tripoli and 77 km northwest of Kalavryta.
The square features a fountain in the middle and until the 1950s, street lights in the middle. Until the 1950s, trees used to exist by the square. Several shops are around the square. Ermou Street is to the north, Kanaris Street to the east, Votsis Street is to the south and Riga Fereou Street to the west.
The square features neo-classical buildings around and it had red shingles with arches.
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Streets intersecting the square include;
all of them are on both sides.
It was completed during the Capodistria government with the plan envoyed under Stamatis Voulgaris in 1829. The plan saw the light from the beginning in which Patras was destroyed during the battle of the Greek Revolution. The plan included the creation of the new city next to the old with grid and horizontal streets and new large squares. During that time, the square began as Dimokratias (Δημοκρατίας), it later changed to Kalamogdarti (Καλαμογδάρτη), Othonos (Όθωνος) after Otto I of Greece, Central Square (Κεντρική Kentriki), Thomopoulou (Θωμόπουλου) after Thomopoulos, Ethniki (Εθνική, literally the national Square), Palligenesias (Παλλιγενεσίας) and since 1863, Georgiou I. Landmarks next to the square include the Apollo Theatre, which was completed by Ernest Schiller. It was reconstructed several times, the last of which was in 2006. In the square, Periklis Kalamogdartis had its first constitution of Greece and it was named after him for a while.
Many neoclassical buildings ceased to exist during World War II and the Greek Civil War, mainly in the northeastern, the eastern and the southwestern sections. They have been replaced with eight to nine storey buildings completed in the 1960s. Since the 1950s, the GR-8 and the GR-9 run through the square in which are now secondary routes, its primary route is to the west and the superhighway and the perimeter since 2001 are further east. Traffic lights were installed in the 1960s in Korinthou at the southeast side and Maizonos at the northwest side.
In 2002, the square was renovated, tiles and fountains were renovated, another building in the northwest section was under construction and was completed by Fall of 2004 featuring several shops and escalators and resembling an outdoor mall with shops. The section from Maizonos and Korinthou and Korinthou and Maizonos were closed in order to alleviate traffic congestion which lasted for a couple of years. Traffic lights remain nowadays as pedestrian lights, one of the traffic lights at the older intersection remained, the other two were removed.
Its panorama includes the Arakynthos mountains and the mountains of the Etoloakarnania and Fokida prefecture as well as the Panachaiko and the mountains to the southeast including Omplos and the south. The buildings block the panorama except for Gerostokopoulou and some views from the eastern portion.
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