The Hotel Grande Bretagne has occupied the northwest corner of Syntagma Square since 1842, watching Athens transform from a fledgling capital into a modern metropolis. Built when Greece was barely two decades old as a nation, this grand hotel became the default address for visiting dignitaries, from heads of state to Hollywood stars drawn by its old-world elegance.

Its history took a darker turn during World War Two, when Nazi forces requisitioned the building as their Athens headquarters. After the German retreat, British forces moved in, including Winston Churchill, who stayed here during the Greek Civil War. While Churchill slept upstairs, leftist guerrillas planted a bomb in the hotel's foundations. The device was discovered before it could detonate, but the incident captures the hotel's position at the centre of Greece's turbulent 20th-century history.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use the Grande Bretagne to anchor the story of Syntagma Square, explaining how a hotel built for European aristocracy became a Nazi command post, then a British refuge, and finally a symbol of Athens' return to peacetime luxury.