Athens Holidays - National Library of Greece

The National Library of Greece (Greek: Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη) is situated near the center of city of Athens.

It was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, as part of his famous Trilogy

of neo-classical buildings including the Academy of Athens and the original building of the Athens University.

The original idea for establishing a National Library came from the philhellene Jacob Mayer, in an August 1824

article of his newspaper Greek Chronicles, published at Messolonghi, where Mayer had been struggling

alongside Lord Byron for Greece's independence. Mayer's idea was carried out in 1829 by the new Greek

government of John Kapodistrias, who grouped together the National Library with other intellectual institutions

such as schools, national museums, and printing houses. These were all placed in the Orphanage of Aegina,

under the supervision of Andreas Moustoksidis, who thus became president of the committee of the

Orphanage, director of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and director of the National School.

At the end of 1830, the library, which Moustokaidis called the National Library, held 1,018 volumes of

printed books, which had been collected from Greeks and philhellenes. In 1834, the Library moved to

Athens, the new capital, and was at first temporarily housed in the public bath at the Roman Market and

then later in the Church of St. Eleftherios, next to the Cathedral and other important buildings.

The collection grew rapidly. In addition to the purchase of books from private libraries, carried out under the

supervision of Dimitris Postolakas (1,995 volumes), the Library accepted many large donations of books,

like one from Christoforos and Konstantinos Sakellarios (5,400 volumes) and one from Markos Renieris (3,401 volumes).

In 1842, the Public Library merged with the Athens University library (15,000 volumes), and was housed together

with the currency collection at the new building of Otto's University. George Kozakis-Typaldos was appointed

as the first director of the newly enlarged institution, remaining in his post until 1863. At this time, the Library

was enriched with significant donations and with rare foreign language books from all over Europe.

With the royal charter of 1866, the two libraries merged, and were administered as the "National Library of Greece".

On 16 March 1888 the foundation stone for a neoclassical marble building was laid, financed by three Kefallonian-born

brothers of the Diaspora, Panagis, Marinos and Andreas Vallianos. The Library remained in the University building

until 1903, when it was moved to the new building which was designed by Theophil Hansen and supervised by Ernst Ziller.

Today, the Library is still housed at the Vallianos building, as well as at two other buildings, at Agia Paraskevi

and Nea Halkidona. The valuable collections of their combined materials represent the written Greek cultural treasure.

(Information from Wekipedia)

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The National National Library of Greece, one of Theophil Hansen's "Trilogy" in central Athens.

Athens Holidays - University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greek: Εθνικόν και Καποδιστριακόν Πανεπιστήμιον Αθηνών),

usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe[citation needed]

and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837.

Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece, with more than fifty

thousand undergraduate students. In 2010, according to University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP),

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is the best university in Greece and 171th university in the world.

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was founded on May 3, 1837, and was housed in the

residence of architect Stamatis Kleanthes, on the north east side of the Acropolis. It was the first University

not only in the newly established Greek State but in all the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean in general.

Before it was renamed to honour Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent modern Greece,

the university was known as the Othonian University and consisted of four faculties; theology, law, medicine

and arts (which included applied sciences and mathematics). It had 33 professors, 52 students and 75 non-

matriculated “auditors”. In November 1841, classes began in a new building designed by the Danish architect

Christian Hansen. “The Propylaea” was designed by Hansen younger brother, Theophil Hansen in 1859 but

the building project was not completed until 1885.

A major change in the structure of the University came about in 1904, when the faculty of Arts was split into

two separate faculties: that of Arts and that of Sciences, the latter consisting of the departments of Physics

and Mathematics and the School of Pharmacy. In 1919, a department of chemistry was added, and in 1922

the School of Pharmacy was renamed a Department. A further change came about when the School of

Dentistry was added to the faculty of medicine.

In this first and “heroic” period for Greek education, the university faculty made great efforts to fill the gap

between their newly founded institution and older ones in other countries.

Between 1895 and 1911, an average of one thousand new students entered the faculties each year, a figure

which rose to two thousand at the end of World War I. This led to the decision to introduce entrance

examinations for all the faculties, beginning in the academic year 1927-28. Since 1954 the number of

students admitted each year has been fixed by the Ministry of Education and Religion, on the proposal of the faculties.

In the 1960s construction work began on the University Campus in the suburb of Ilissia.

The Ilissia campus now houses the Schools of Philosophy, Theology and Sciences.

(Information from Wekipedia)

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The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, one of Theophil Hansen's "Trilogy" in central Athens.