The 1st Primary School of Vyronas
Konstantilieri D. 19-23 and Erythraeas
On the junction of the streets D. Konstantilieri and Eryhtraeas, opposite to the grove of Hagia Triada (Holy Trinity) is located the first school built in the settlement of Vyronas. It was based on plans by the civil engineer D. Georgopoulos. It started functioning in 1924 as part of the primary schools complex of Hagia Triada. However, the building was accomplished in 1926. The chief engineer of the Refugees' Settlement Committee, G. Soulis, who was responsible for the entire building programme of Vyronas, called it “teaching edifice for the elementary education”. It is a long, two-storeyed building, belonging to a transitional style between late-19th c. neoclassicism and modernism which prevailed after 1929. It was at the same time school for boys and school for girls. In 1926 it had 550 male pupils and 750 female ones. From the balcony of the first floor Eleftherios Venizelos addressed the inhabitants of Vyronas during the electoral period of 1928. Due to its historic and architectural importance it has been listed as a monument of modern architecture by the Ministry of Culture.
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- Construction of the 1st Primary School of Vyronas [D. Georgopoulos archive]
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- “School in Vyronas”
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- View of the 1st Primary School from the hill of Hagia Triada.
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- Children posing on the inaugural day of the 1st Primary School [source: PHZH: Forschungsbibliothek Pestalozziannum]
Additional Information
In 1926 the civil engineer G. Soulis, responsible for the building programme of Vyronas on behalf of the Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Refugees, wrote in the periodical “Works” regarding the building of the school:
«Το Διδακτήριον της στοιχειώδους εκπαιδεύσεως, διόροφον κτίριον περιλαμβάνον οκτώ μεγάλας και αρίστας αιθούσας διδασκαλίας μετά των απαιτουμένων γραφείων και λοιπών βοηθητικών διαμερισμάτων, έχει ανεγερθή επί τη βάσει των τελευταίων αρχών της σχολικής αρχιτεκτονικής και της προσαρμογής αυτών προς τας παρ' ημίν κλιματολογικάς συνθήκας, είναι δε αναμφισβητήτως το άριστον σήμερον εν Αθήναις.
Το διδακτήριον τούτο διαιρείται εις δύο ανεξάρτητα τμήματα, αρρένων και θηλέων, είναι τελείως επιπλωμένον δια του απαιτουμένου αριθμού διέδρων θρανίων τύπου Rettig, διπλών μελανοπινάκων κλπ., τοδεπροαύλιοντου, έχει ολικήνελευθέρανεπιφάνειαν 1850 μέτρωντετραγωνικών.
Δια την ανέγερσιν εν γένει του διδακτηρίου εδαπανήθησαν 1.200.000 δραχ., δια δετηνεπίπλωσιντου 150.000 δραχ.
Εις αμφότερα τα σχολεία αρρένωνκαι θηλέωνφοιτώσι 550 μαθηταί και 750 μαθήτριαι».
[Πηγή; Γ. Σούλης, Έργα, 34, 30/10/1926, σελ. 217-226]
ΦΕΚ 194/ΑΑΠ/03-08-2011 Declaration of the 1st Primary School as monument of modern architecture
www.listedmonuments.culture.gr«We declare the building of the former 1st and 2nd primary schools of Vyronas, according to the regulations of the article 6, paragraph 1c of the law 3028/2002, as a monument [....] on the streets Konstantilieri and Erythraeas in the municipality of Vyronas and in the region of Attica; the reason is that it consists one of the few remaining educational institutions of the time when the settlement of Vyronas was founded which has maintained its authenticity and its initial use for mor than eighty years and thus is a building with a particular historical and social importance, closely linked to the memories of the inhabitants of Vyronas ".
