The Olive Grove

The Elaionas was a vast forest of olive trees (about 150,000 olive trees) on the banks of the river Cephissus. Unfortunately, thousands of olive trees were destroyed during the Greek Revolution and in the first years of Otto’s reign, either for military purposes or due to extreme weather conditions. Nevertheless, the forest often resounded with the gallop of Queen Amalia’s horse or the sounds of the numerous pottery factories, brick kilns and lime kilns operating here.

Creator: George Pechell Mends (1852)
Source: Royal Museums Greenwich