Exarcheia is a community in central Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th century businessman named Exarchos who opened a large general store there. Exarcheia is bordered on the east by Kolonaki and is framed by Patission Street, Panepistimiou Street and Alexandras Avenue. Exarcheia is notorious for being Athens' historical core of radical political and intellectual activism. The National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the National Technical University of Athens and Strefi Hill are all located in Exarcheia. The central square features many cafés and bars with numerous retail computer shops located mainly on Stournari street, also called the Greek Silicon Valley. Located on Exarcheia square is one of the oldest summer cinemas of Athens, called "Vox", as well as the Antonopoulos apartment building, known as the "Blue Building", because of its original colour, which is a typical example of modern architecture in Athens during the inter-war period. Due to the political and intellectual character of Exarcheia, many bookstores, fair trade shops and organic food stores are also located in Exarcheia.Exarcheia is also known for its comic book shops, and its night clubs, cafés, and bars.

Exarcheia was created between 1870 and 1880 at the confines of the city and has played a significant role in the social and political life of Greece. It is there that the Athens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 took place. Exarcheia is a place where many intellectuals and artists live and an area. Exarcheia is also an art hub where theatrical shows and concerts are held around the central square. The headquarters of PASOK, a Greek political party that supported austerity measures dictated by the European Union in 2009. One can find numerous anti-capitalist graffiti in Exarcheia. A self-organized health structure providing medical services functions in Exarcheia. Exarchia Square may be the hub of the neighbourhood’s (often riotous) activity, but Odos Kallidromiou is its heart—and you can feel this as you stroll its mulberry-shaded pavements. This street, which surges then sinks as it hugs the western incline of Lycabettus Hill, transforms itself according to day and hour with the ease of a person donning and shedding a wig. Even the street's name is the result of such whim: officially named Kallidromou after the peak that rises above Thermopylae, locals have stubbornly clung to Kallidromiou—the result of a typographical error. Every Athens neighbourhood has its weekly farmers’ market, but shopping at Kallidromiou’s laiki on Saturday morning is a tradition among urbanites, who haggle over artichokes with the same passion they argue the finer points of politics over an after-market raki at one of Kallidromiou’s coffee houses. Building squats are not unusual in Athens, but a parking lot? For a group of locals, the need for more green space in their neighbourhood was as urgent as the need for new housing so, in 2009, incensed by plans to develop this former car park, they occupied it and set up the city’s first self-managed park. Run by an open collective, it has evolved into more of a community centre than just a park, offering swings for kids.