F:. Pythagoras

(Thessaloniki 1811 – Athens 1885)

Coming from an aristocratic family of Thessaloniki, he was one of the main representatives of Neoclassicism in Greece. He was forced to emigrate with his family to Italy with the revolution of 1821. He studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Later he made educational trips and in 1836 he visited Paris. Returning to Greece, he worked in Athens, Thessaloniki and finally in Constantinople. In 1844 he returned to Athens and was appointed Director of the School of Arts, i.e. the first Polytechnic 1844-1862. He reorganized the curriculum and took care of the building problem of housing and teaching. He designed and built the magnificent building complex of the Polytechnic (1862-1876) that we see and admire to this day. His other surviving building projects are , the Arsakeion (1852), the Ophthalmiaatriion (1852), St. George Karitsis (1859), Agia Irini (1892), St. Dionysios Areopagitis Catholicos, etc. He was a gifted artist whose work had a significant influence on the reconstruction of the new Greek capital.