Timeline / Before 1800 to After 1930 / GREECE

Date Country Theme

1814 Greece Political Context

Foundation of the secret organisation Filiki Etaireia (Friendly Society) prepares the ground for the Greek Revolution.

1821 Greece Political Context

The Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire begins.

1825 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

The poets Alexandros and Panayotis Soutsos compile their first works, and introduce European Romanticism to a newly liberated Greece.

1827 Greece Political Context

The London Treaty: England, Russia and France suggest to the Ottoman Sultan that he should recognise Greek independence. This is the first step towards foundation of the Greek State.

1828 Greece Rediscovering The Past

Ioannis Kapodistrias oversees the establishment of Greece’s first museum, the Archaeological Museum of Aegina.

1828 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The First Governor of the new Greek nation, Ioannis Kapodistrias, orders the foundation of the postal service.

1828 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

The poem Hymn to Liberty by Dionysios Solomos becomes the Greek National Anthem with music composed by Nikolaos Mantzaros.

1830s Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

Eduard Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthis pioneer the urban redevelopment of Athens, initially under Ioannis Kapodistrias. They produce topographical plans of Athens and, in doing so, lay the foundations for the new capital.

1831 Greece Political Context

The First Governor of Greece, Conte Ioannis Kapodistrias, is assassinated.

1834 Greece Rediscovering The Past

The Numismatic Museum is established. In 1843, it is amalgamated with the National Library and housed in a room at the University of Athens. Date Country Theme

1834 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

Athens becomes the capital of the newly established state.

1834 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

In October, King Otto issues a decree for reconstruction of the city of Sparta. Over the ancient city Bavarian city-planners, headed by Fr. Staufert, design a city for 100,000 inhabitants based on the Ippodamia system, with wide roads and many squares.

1836 - 1862 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

The Royal Palace (today’s Parliament) is erected under the auspices of the director of the Munich Academy of Arts and official architect of the Bavarian court, Friedrich von Gaertner.

1837 Greece Rediscovering The Past

The Archaeological Society of Athens is established. Its aim is to encourage archaeological-excavation management of antiquities in Greece.

1837 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

Athens School of the Fine Arts is established with three departments: the School of Crafts, School of Industrial Crafts and the School of Fine Arts.

1837 Greece Reforms And Social Changes

The University of Athens opens. It is the first university to be established in the eastern Mediterranean.

1841 Greece Economy And Trade

The National Bank of Greece is founded.

1843 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

The School of the Fine Arts becomes a five-year higher education institution under its director, the architect Lissandros Kautantzoglou. mid 19th - mid 20th Greece Migrations

Many Greeks settle in Egypt during the second half of the 19th century. Khedive Muhammad ‘Ali supports Greek participation in the development of Egypt, especially in her contribution to the cotton industry.

1851 Greece International Exhibitions

Greece is represented by a small stand at the Great Exhibition in London among the Levantine states. Date Country Theme

1853 - 1856 Greece Political Context

The Crimean War starts in October 1853. On one side is the Russian Empire and on the other the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Greece participates with a volunteer corps of 1,000 men as one of Russia’s few allies.

1858 - 1859 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Telephone communication is established between the cities of Piraeus and Syros (underwater), and Athens and Patras.

1859 - 1885 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of the so-called classical trilogy – namely the Academy of Athens, the National Library of Greece and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – which is designed by the brothers Theophilus and Christian Hansen.

1860 - 1865 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

Both Nikolaos Gyzis and Nikiphoros Lytras win scholarships to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.

1860 - 1874 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos writes a five-volume History of the Greek Nation, a highly influential historiographical work about the continuity of Greek history since antiquity.

1864 Greece Political Context

The Ionian islands are incorporated within the newly established Greek State.

1866 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Emmanuel Roidis, one of Greece’s most influential authors, publishes his novel Pope Joan, which is translated into a number of languages.

1866 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

Nikiphoros Lytras takes up a professorship at the School of the Arts in Athens.

1866 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

The poet Kostis Palamas publishes his first collection of verse entitled the Songs of My Fatherland. A major figure on the Greek literary scene, Palamas writes the Olympic Anthem and is nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1869 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The railway line from the Thesion district in central Athens to the Port of Piraeus opens. Date Country Theme

1871 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Nikolaos Politis publishes the first volume of his pioneering work on Greek folklore, Study of the Life of Modern Greeks: Modern Greek Mythology.

1873 Greece Economy And Trade

Foundation of the Greek Stock Market.

Late 19th century Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Evangelismos in Br#ila, Romania.

Late 19th century Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

Mavrokordatos Mansion is built in the Kipseli neighbourhood in Athens for the well- known political family of that name.

Late 19th century Greece Rediscovering The Past

The “early conservator” Panagiotis Kaloudis works on the restoration of the Chaironia Lion.

1875 Greece Rediscovering The Past

Excavations begin at Olympia under the German archaeologist Ernst Curtius; they continue under German leadership until World War II.

1878 - 1881 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces

The Iliou Melathron is designed by architect Ernst Ziller as the residence of the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and his family.

1880 - 1920 Greece Migrations

Approximately 400,000 Greeks migrate to America due to widespread unemployment and economic problems.

1880 - 1893 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The Corinth Canal opens.

1886 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

Nikolaos Gyzis, one of Greece’s most important 19th-century painters, becomes professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.

1889 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Founding of the first commercial unit for electricity in Athens. The Royal Palace was the first building in the capital to benefit from electric lighting. Date Country Theme

1891 Greece Economy And Trade

An insurance company for sea transportation is founded on the island of Chios.

1893 Greece Rediscovering The Past

Foundation of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

1895 Greece Political Context

Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis declares that Greece is bankrupt.

1896 Greece Travelling

Revival of the Olympic Games.

1897 Greece Political Context

Defeat of the Greek Army during the Greek–Turkish War.

1900 Greece Fine And Applied Arts

Foundation of the National Gallery in Athens. Its chief curator is the acclaimed painter Georgios Iakovidis.

1901 Greece Economy And Trade

The Greek Chamber of Commerce is founded in Alexandria, Egypt, with Emmanouil Benakis as its president.

1901 - 1903 Greece Political Context

Under the leadership of King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, Greece defeats the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria during the Balkan Wars.

1905 - 1936 Greece Travelling

Tourists flock to Delphi from all over the world attracted mainly by its archaeology. The guestbook of the Hotel Pythios Appolon provides a glimpse of the cosmopolitan atmosphere at Delphi during the first quarter of the 20th century.

1906 Greece Travelling

The Intercalated or Olympic Games are held in Athens. An international multi-sport event, many people consider them to be the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee refers to them as the “Second International Olympic Games in Athens”.

1908 Greece Fine And Applied Arts Date Country Theme

An exhibition by members of the Omada Technis (Art Group), which includes Nikolaos Lytras, Konstantinos Parthenis, Konstantinos Malea and others, reacts to the conservative academicism of the Munich school.

1911 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

The Alexandrian poet Constantine P. Cavafy publishes his poem Ithaca.

1912 - 1913 Greece Political Context

The Treaty of Sèvres is ratified after the victory of the Balkan Wars and the end of World War I. Consequently, Greece gains administration of the area of Smyrna.

1918 Greece Reforms And Social Changes

The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) is founded.

1920 - 1922 Greece Political Context

Following the “Asia Minor catastrophe”, almost 1.5 million Greek nationals arrive as refugees at Greece’s coastal regions, for example at Pontus, having been uprooted from their homes in Asia Minor (Anatolia).

1922 Greece Migrations

Many thousands of refugees arrive from Asia Minor. c. 1923 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Building of the Arzan-Amatovo Dam in Kilkis.