23. Antikas Square – Gabriel Ladas Square
Brief documentation:
The official name of the square is Gabriel Ladas Square and it was named in honor of the homonymous former Mayor of the city (1959-1964). This square, however, is known to the people of Xanthi as Antikas Square.
This square is a meeting and entertainment point at the beginning of the old town of Xanthi. During the last decades of the 19th century it was called Balık Pazar (meaning fish market). It was formed as a square in the late 1960s.
It was named after Ioannis Efstratiou, also known as Yiangos Antikas, who had his barber shop in the square and was particularly loved by the youth.
Antikas was born in 1882 and was a patriot in Xanthi during the Bulgarian occupation, showing self-denial and love for the place. He died in 1913 under the torture of Bulgarian Danev because he refused to betray Greek patriots. These Greeks had killed in front of the barber shop of Antikas, before the beginning of the Bulgarian occupation, the Bulgarian Hadjigeorgiev who had allegedly come to the city to organize a Bulgarian committee in the area.
Antikas Square is a central point of the old town of Xanthi and a predominantly commercial area.
The bust of Antikas in the square was constructed in 1968.
Category of thematic interest: ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST
History:
The official name of the square is Gabriel Ladas Square and it was named in honor of the homonymous former Mayor of the city (1959-1964). This square, however, is known to the people of Xanthi as Antikas Square.
This square is a meeting and entertainment point at the beginning of the old town of Xanthi. During the last decades of the 19th century it was called Balık Pazar (meaning fish market). It was formed as a square in the late 1960s.
It was named after Ioannis Efstratiou, also known as Yiangos Antikas, who had his barber shop in the square and was particularly loved by the youth.
Antikas was born in 1882 and was a patriot in Xanthi during the Bulgarian occupation, showing self-denial and love for the place. He died in 1913 under the torture of Bulgarian Danev because he refused to betray Greek patriots. These Greeks had killed in front of the barber shop of Antika, before the beginning of the Bulgarian occupation, the Bulgarian Hadjigeorgiev who had allegedly come to the city to organize a Bulgarian committee in the area.
Elements of architecture:
Antikas Square is a central point of the old town of Xanthi and a predominantly commercial area.
Description of other elements:
The bust of Antikas in the square was constructed in 1968.
Purpose - Use: Public space
Characterization: Government Gazette 612B/30-4-1976 and Government Gazette 661/Β/17-5-1976, Government Gazette 1097/14.12-1995
Dating (period): Second half of the 1960s
Year of construction: Second half of the 1960s
Location of the monument: 41.1419648319607, 24.887343456494108
Bibliographic references:
• Ladas Gabriel, "The martyrdom of Yankos Antikas as it is narrated by old Xanthians. Mr. Gabriel Ladas", Thracian Chronicles, vol. 29 (1972), pp. 27-28
Address: Gabriel Ladas Square
Visitable: Yes