The Asia Minor Catastrophe that took place on September 1922, caused an unprecedented humanitarian and housing crisis, as 1,500,000 Greeks were forced to abandon their ancestral homelands and seek refuge in Greece. The urgent need to house hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, who flooded Athens and Piraeus, led the authorities to the requisitioning of public buildings, long before the systematic construction of organized refugee settlements began.
This condition is depicted in the photographic document from Volume II of the “Great Greek Encyclopedia” (Publishing Department S.A.I.C. G. P. Makris & Co, 1927). The record captures the interior of the Municipal Theatre of Athens, which has been requisitioned to serve as a temporary shelter. The theatre boxes and balconies have been converted into makeshift accommodations housing refugee families. Simultaneously, the orchestra stalls beneath the boxes are completely covered, confirming the transformation of a public performance venue into a place of refuge.
