Kleanthis House - Saubert - Athens - Greece
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CADS11
N 37° 58.386 E 023° 43.611
34S E 739519 N 4206338
The Kleanthis - Saubert House , one of the most historic buildings in Athens , built under the Acropolis in the heart of Plaka , on Tholos Street.
Waymark Code: WMY7NE
Location: Greece
Date Posted: 05/06/2018
Views: 5
The Kleanthis - Saubert House , one of the most historic buildings in Athens , built under the Acropolis in the heart of Plaka , on Tholos Street. From 1837 to 1842, he housed the first university in Greece, the "Othonios University" , the current National and Kapodistrian University of Athens . Today it functions as a museum for the history of the university.
The house was inhabited by the Macedonian architect Stamatis Kleanthis and the Bavarian colleague and collaborator of Edward Sawbert . The picturesque house of Kleanthis - Saubert, with its peculiar architecture, built in the style of Athenian house of the time with romantic elements, with its windows and terraces, its collonets and its yard, stands out and is imposed on its size and height on the north side of the Acropolis. This building is historically and architecturally one of the most remarkable monuments of Athens.
The Kleanthis-Saubert House "was the habitation of the foreign architects and archaeologists who were at that time in Athens, such as the architects Luders and Christians Hansen, archaeologist Loudovikos Ross and others . " [ pending referral ]
History
In 1828, Cleanthis, along with Saubert, at the instigation of Governor John Kapodistrias , came to Greece to build new buildings. The German archaeologist Ludwig Ross , coming to settle in Greece, writes in his Memoirs:
My future good friend, Saubert, from Breslau, a Schinkel student, was in the same School as the Greek architect Kleanthis, who came from Italy to Greece since 1828. Eventually, architect Leander from Leipzig arrived .
The two architects and planners Kleanthis and Saubert, when they arrived in Athens in November 1831 for the construction of the first urban plan of Athens, bought a large plot of land at Rizokastro with a dilapidated older residence from Turcala Santé Chanoum. It was an old house, perhaps older than the 18th century. The two architects and collaborators, without destroying the ruined house that existed, repaired and expanded it, using it as their home and office.
Ludwig Ross writes: "Saubert had already bought a few Turkish ruins on the northern foothills of the Acropolis and restored them. He lived in one of these with Kleanthis. The house later, in 1837, was used to house the first University of Otto . "
Kleanthi House Inscription (Old University)
In 1837, the two architects Kleanthis and Saubert rented this great residence to the State to house the first Hellenic University. It became the first University of post-revolutionary Athens from 1837 to 1842, under the name of "Othoonean University".
Ludwig Ross describes with great emphasis his memories of the foundation, the celebrations, the feudal reasons that were spoken and the climate that prevailed on the day of the inauguration of the University:
What was missing now was an appropriate building. In the absence of this, he rented the house of my friend Saubert. It was between the ridge of Pan and Aradylos . Its largest room, with a wide view of the city and the plain, and beyond to Parnitha ... But without a formal religious ceremony the thing could not be done. The founder of the University, who had given his royal name, determined the day of the inauguration ... This was the opening of the University of "Othon". This university inaugurated me in terms of lessons, giving a lecture a few days later - April 22 / May 10, 1837 ... I did a lecture on Aristophanes , talking about the works of "Aharnes" and "Horseman", with about 30 audience.
Chr. Em. Aggelomatis calls the "Old University", as the Kleanthis-Sauterland House has so far been known as "the refuge of science in the early years of the reign of Othon," and gives a description from the first day that it began its operation in 1837:
People from every corner of Hellenism, fustanella with ragged hands, fighters who in their passage thought that the smell of garbage was spreading, with their beards and tall hats, bruises with clothes framed by poverty, climbing on the slope of Rizokastro to see the miracle realized ... People who had reached the age of what would today be said to be "mature men", all in all their sun-faced faces, lionesses with lousy madels, children still, take a quiet silence in the room both current and hear the delivery ... they hear the lesson with eyes dazzled.
In 1856, Kleanthis sold the home of Tholos Street to a private citizen from Crete , while in 1868 it was used to shelter refugees from the island. Subsequently, it was expropriated by the Archaeological Service and in 1963 it was declared preservable. Finally, the University of Athens finally acquires its property in April 1967. Today it houses a cultural center of the University of Athens.
At the precinct of the Cultural Center of the City of Athens at Academia Street, (1973) marble busts of Stamatis Kleanthis and Edward Saubert were painted by sculptor Fanis Sakellariou (1916-2000).
Translated from Greek
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