When the capital of the newly founded Greek State was transferred to Athens in 1834, the former provincial city of the Ottoman Empire had no buildings suitable to house a European capital. Yet, providing it with them proved to be far more complicated than expected, because of the question which buildings should be given priority: those housing the most urgent practical needs of a modern European State, or those underlining the connection of modern Greece to the cultural supremacy of the ancient Greek world? That question led to a continuous wavering between each option, constant changes of plans, and many nonpractical decisions that delayed greatly the organization of Athens as a European capital in functional terms. The originality of the article lies in its relying mainly on unpublished archival sources that throw new light on the creation of modern Athens.