Georgios Averoff
Georgios Averoff ( Greek Γεώργιος Αβέρωφ , born August 15, 1818 in Metsovo , † July 15, 1899 in Alexandria ) was an Aromanian businessman and philanthropist .
Life
Born in Metsovo (Aromanian: Aminciu ), a small, predominantly populated by Vlachs town in the Pindos -Gebirge it verschlug the young but ambitious Averoff to Alexandria, where he earned as a trader an immense for that time assets. Like most Aromanians, he was pro-Hellenic and proved to be a Greek patriot and evergete : he founded two schools in Alexandria , a high school for boys and a teaching institute for girls. In Athens he was instrumental in founding the Military Academy and the Polytechnic University .
When the Olympic Games were almost postponed in 1896 because the Greek government could not raise the money for the completion of the main competition site, Averoff stepped in and financed the completion of the Panathinaikon Stadium out of his own pocket.
Honor
After his death, Averoff was buried in the First Athens Cemetery with a state ceremony. Numerous monuments were erected in his honor in Greece. In addition, an armored cruiser acquired in 1910 , the Georgios Averoff , which was the flagship of the Greek Navy for more than 40 years , was named after him.
Averoff is not one of the great national heroes like Eleftherios Venizelos or Pavlos Koundouriotis today, but his name is still known to many Greeks.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Decker, Karl Lennartz: Georgios Averoff . In: Journal of Olympic history . tape 15 , no. 2 , July 2007, ISSN 1085-5165 , p. 20–23 ( article [PDF; accessed July 29, 2018]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Averoff, Georgios |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος (Greek) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 15, 1818 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Metsovo |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 1899 |
| Place of death | Alexandria |