Few memories are sweeter than those nights gazing at the stars from the safety of a parent’s embrace, somewhere between heaven and Earth. Every new experience with astronomy reawakens that child that thirsts to discover the world and its limits.

It was with this childlike enthusiasm that I climbed one evening to the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) in the central district of Thiseio. Atop the Hill of the Nymphs, with an uncluttered view of the Parthenon, the beautiful building designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen is full of small treasures. Just over 100 meters away, under a recently revamped dome, a telescope made by Paul Ferdinand Gautier in 1902 plunges us into the atmosphere of Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon.”

The NOA is one of Athens’s best-kept secrets, but not for long as it’s being discovered by more and more people thanks to a program of tours for schools and independent groups launched in recent years as part of the institution’s efforts to reach out to the public.

At the iron entrance gate we are welcomed by the NOA staff, including astrophysicist Dimitris Tsimbidas, an amiable man in his 30s who, together with a group of other young scientists, is responsible for showing people around the observatory and explaining the function of the different buildings and instruments. He tells us the story of the NOA. Not surprisingly it was founded as part of the process of building a modern Greek state following the country’s liberation from Turkish rule, and the desire of the nation’s benefactors to endow the Greek capital with all the institutions to be found in other European cities.

The halls of the building designed by Hansen have displays of instruments as well as a library with an enviable collection. One of the highlights is a map of the moon that was the most accurate ever drawn in its time, created by Julius Schmidt, a German and the NOA’s third director (1858-84), who was also responsible for enriching the library and the observatory’s technical capabilities. His monumental topographical survey of the moon was possible because of the clearness of the Athens sky. The map is 2 meters across and consists of 25 sections that represent the entire part of the moon that is visible from Earth. It was drawn with the help of a refracting telescope designed by Simon Ploessl and has over 32,000 details.

“Even though it was drawn in the late 19th century, it is useful even today,” says Tsimbidas. “It was renowned throughout the world and there is even a reference to it in the original French version of Jules Verne’s ‘From the Earth to the Moon.’”

A copy of the original map is on display in the observatory’s museum, while the telescope through which Schmidt observed the moon is just a floor above, though it is not in operation.

The NOA started organizing visits in 2008, but one of its highlights, the Dorides telescope made by Gautier had been out of operation since the 1980s after suffering mechanical failure, and the other telescope at the dome was also out of order.

 In 2014, the then head of the OTE telecom group, Michalis Tsamaz, happened to take a tour of the facilities and decided to help after seeing the problems. He dispatched a specialized technical team from OTE to conduct a study and fix the electrical and mechanical faults. At the same time, the facility was given a full maintenance makeover and the footpath leading up to it was properly illuminated to make access easier for visitors. The head of the team, Giorgos Kladouchas, says that the work took two months to complete.