Part of a recent discovery within the store rooms of this Lycee, marble plaques from its pre-1922 era. These belong to the Central Girls’ School of Agia Photini; the ‘tis Agias Foteinis’ that is the very same school as the Kentrikon Parthenagogeion, but this title was valid for the years between 1837 and 1886, when it was situated in a building within the court yard of Agia Fotini Church. So, when they transfered it to the building that exists today they also brought the slabs from the previous location, thus salvaging the memory of the donors. On the marbles, there is a list of the philanthropists who helped the construction of the school. The names on the top are from a family called Kioupetzoglou. There had been a mansion and a ‘han’ in old Smyrna with the same name. After some contacts, I was able to contact the grandchildren of Kioupetzoglou family in Athens. Kioupetzoglou was a well-known name and a wealthy family as is clear from the fact that there is a street of Nea Smyrni bearing this name today. In the list there is the name of a patriarch of Jerusalem and a charity and other family names. At the bottom of one of the marble slabs, is inscribed that the building was inaugurated on 29th August 1887. In a Greek
web site there is detailed information on this school, such as its regulations and notes that the school was at Meimaroglou (Mimaroğlu) street.
These marbles will be part of the exhibit of an upcoming museum being set up by the Atatürk Lycee in the nearby annex house, dating also from the pre-1922 period - information courtesy of Barbaros Uçar, 2011.
