Varvakeio High School

The Varvakeio High School (Greek: Πρότυπο Γυμνάσιο & ΓΕ.Λ. Βαρβακείου Σχολής) is a public Greek junior high school and high school located in Psychiko.

Varvakeio High School
The Varvakeio school in 1867
Psychiko, Athens Greece
Information
Type	Public Model (Πρότυπο) High School
Established	1860
Founder	Ioannis Varvakis

History

Varvakeio was founded by Ioannis Varvakis, who donated a big part of his fortune to the state, in order to build a public, fee-less high school. The realization of Varvakis' dream came true after his death as the building was opened in 1860, initially across from the present-day Varvakios Agora (central market).^[1] Badly damaged in the civil war, the original Panagis Kalkos-designed building was demolished in 1955 or 1956.^[2] The school moved several times before settling on its current location in Psychiko in 1983. Originally all-male, the school became co-ed in 1979. Today, the school is recognized as one of the leading Model Schools (Πρότυπα Σχολεία) in Greece.^[3] Admission is highly competitive and determined through entrance examinations.^[4]

Notable alumni

The Varvakeio High School has produced, over the years, notable alumni in varied fields. Some of them include:

Arts and literature

• Freddy Germanos, actor
• Georgios Drosinis, poet
• Dimitri Mitropoulos, composer and pianist
• Alexandros Papadiamantis, novelist and poet
• Antonis Samarakis, writer

Prominent figures who attended the Varvakeio High School

Saint Nectarios

Alexandros Papadiamantis

Konstantinos Tsatsos

Georgios Drosinis

Constantinos Daskalakis

Economics and politics

• Evangelos Averoff, former President of New Democracy party and Minister
• Leonidas Kouris, former Mayor of Athens
• Theodoros Pangalos,^[5] current Member of the Hellenic Parliament
• Alexandros Papagos, former Prime Minister of Greece
• Dimitrios Papadimoulis,^[6] current Vice-President of the European Parliament
• Yagos Pesmazoglou, former economist, Member of the Hellenic Parliament and MEP
• Konstantinos Tsatsos, former diplomat and President of the Hellenic Republic
• Nikolaos Vettas,^[7] AUEB professor of Economics

Science

• Constantinos Daskalakis,^[8] MIT professor of computer science (1999 alumnus)
• Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, architect
• Christos Papakyriakopoulos,^[9] mathematician
• Mihalis Yannakakis, Columbia University professor of computer science

Other

• Kostas Axelos, philosopher
• Saint Nectarios of Aegina

Greek Academy

See also

• Varvakeion Athena, a statue found near the original (demolished) site of the school