The neoclassical Averof building of the National Technical University — the Polytechneio — is one of the charged places of modern Greek history. In November 1973 students barricaded themselves inside and broadcast against the military junta until, in the early hours of 17 November, an army tank crashed through the main gate. The dead became martyrs of the resistance and the colonels' regime fell within a year; the date is still marked by an annual march.
The buckled gate is preserved as a memorial in the courtyard. The anniversary aside, the handsome 19th-century campus is worth a look on the western edge of Exarchia.