Athens Holidays - Modern Academy of Athens

The Academy of Athens (Greek: Ακαδημία Αθηνών) is Greece's national academy,

and the highest research establishment in the country. It was established in 1926,

and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education.

The Academy's main building is one of the major landmarks of Athens.

The organization of the Academy of Athens, whose title hearkens back to the ancient Academy of Plato,

was first established on 18 March 1926, and its charter was ratified by the law.

This charter, with subsequent amendments, is still valid and governs the Academy's affairs.

According to it, the Academy is divided into three Orders:

Natural Sciences, Letters and Arts, Moral and Political Sciences.

The main building of the Academy is a neoclassical building between Panepistimiou Street and Akadimias Street

in the centre of Athens. The building was designed as part of an architectural "trilogy" in 1859 by the Danish

architect Theophil Hansen, along with the University and the National Library.

Funds had been provided by the magnate Simon Sinas specifically for the purpose, and the foundation stone was

laid on 2 August 1859. Construction proceeded rapidly, after 1861 under the supervision of Ernst Ziller,

but the internal tumults during the latter years of King Otto's reign, which resulted in his ousting in 1862,

hampered construction until it was stopped in 1864. Works resumed in 1868, but the building was not completed

until 1885, at a total cost of 2,843,319 gold drachmas, most of it provided by Sinas, and, after his death,

by his wife Ifigeneia. The sculptures were undertaken by the Greek Leonidas Drosis, while the murals

and paintings by the Austrian Christian Griepenkerl.

On 20 March 1887, the building of the "Sinaean Academy", as it was called, was delivered by Ziller to the Greek

Prime Minister, Charilaos Trikoupis. In the absence of a national Academy, the building was used for housing

the Numismatic Museum in 1890, and in 1914 the Byzantine Museum and the State Archives. Finally, on 24 March 1926,

the building was handed over to the newly-established Academy of Athens.

(Information from Wekipedia)

 

 

 

 

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The main building of the Academy of Athens, one of Theophil Hansen's "Trilogy" in central Athens.

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