GLOBAL HELLENISM

"THE BENEFACTORS' ATHENS"

Greeks always recognized the importance of education for the survival of the nation. The steady development of education throughout the country during Turkish domination and specifically in Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace testifies to that. It is therefore natural that the largest portion of benefaction had to do with education. Apart from the higher institutions, universities and polytechnics, as well as the Friends of Education Society, many institutions were created with donations by the national benefactors. Yiorgos Rizaris, executing the wishes of his elder brother Manthos, who had died earlier, left his entire estate for the founding of a seminary in Athens. Till 1940, the Rizareio was housed in the old school building on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue. Ioannis Varvakis, from the island of Psara was a particularly important personality who prospered in Russia and became a distinguished member of Russian society and benefactor in the places he lived . He had foreseen the need for a school in the capital of the new state as far back as 1824. He deposited funds in a Russian bank and in 1857 the construction of the Varvakeiou building was under way, designed and overseen by Panaghiotis Kalkou. Construction was completed in 1859. The building was destroyed by a fire in December 1944. Today, the Varvakeio is housed in a contemporary building in Psychiko. Plans for the construction of the Varvakeio in Kifissia are already under way. Yet another eminent personality who distinguished himself in Russia, more specifically in Odessa where he served as Mayor, was Grigorios Maraslis. The Marasleio school at the end of Patriarchou Ioakeim Street along with the Marasleio Library (a series of publications dealing with literary and historical works consisting of 118 volumes) as well as the building of the Hippocration Hospital that had been originally intended to house a graduate school of economics, were built with Maraslis` money. Other important personalities who contributed greatly to the field of education were Panaghiotis Triantafyllidis, with whose endowment the Agricultural School was built; Pantelis Vassanis (Marine Cadet Academy in Piraeus), Vasilios and Loizos Sivitanidis (Sivitanidis Technical School in Kallithea), Panaghis Harokopos (Harokopeios Professional and Home Economics School), Yiorgos Frangoudis from Cyprus and Alexandros Pantos from Volos (Panteio University). In the wider field of Culture, the founding of the Archaeological Society is due to Constantine Vellios; the eminent literary Parnassos corporation was founded by the Lambrou brothers, which received many donations and established night schools, many of which still operate today. The Athens Conservatory was supported by leading benefactors like Andreas Syngros and Yiorgos Averof. Due to contributions from Stefanos Augustus Rallis and Marinos Korialeniou, the National (or Royal, at the time) Theater was built, while the National Gallery, which for years had had no permanent site, managed to acquire its own building (completed in 1976) thanks to Alexandros Soutsou`s bequest.