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Athens Campuses

NYC Athens Campus: the only multi-building campus in the heart of Athens!

The students of New York College (NYC) enjoy a unique privilege: They study in NYC Athens Campus, the only multi-building campus in the heart of Athens. Historically this four-hall complex, where NYC Athens Campus now operates, spans three centuries: It was first inaugurated in 1879, as a school of professional training for financially non-privileged young women, and is ever since an emblematic landmark of the Old City of Athens, under the shadow of the Acropolis.

The privileged location and history of NYC Athens Campus—that operates in functional harmony with the cultural and historical character of the neighboring area—inspired Elias Foutsis, Hon. PhD, founder and President of the multinational New York College Group (NYC Group), to proclaim epigrammaticallyince 1990s, that “our Campus is the Old Town of Athens.”

NYC Athens Campus & cosmopolitan surroundings (38 Vas. Amalias Av., SYNTAGMA, ATHENS) 

NYC Athens Campus is located on the eastern edge of the Old City of Athens (“Plaka”), opposite the National Garden and the Greco-Roman Temple of Zeus, very close to the Greek Parliament and the central square of Athens (“Syntagma Sq.”), at a walking distance from the Herodes Atticus ancient theater and the Acropolis. The campus takes up an entire city block—between Vas. Sofias Av., Periandrou Str., Dedalou Str. and Monis Asteriou Str.—in a most upscale district of Athens.

The facade of Syngros Hall, the eastern landmark-building of NYC Athens Campus, on the edge of the Old Town of Athens under the shadow of the Acropolis (photo 1). Panoramic view of the four buildings (halls) of NYC Athens Campus (photo 2): Syngros Hall (building 1), Mumper Hall (building 2), Kapodistrias Hall (building 3), Paparrigopoulou Hall (building 4). *

*The four halls of NYC Athens Campus have been named respectively in honor of Andreas Syngros (building 1), benefactor-financier of the construction of the building complex since 1878, Dr. Robert Mumper (building 2), prime initiator of the first international academic validation agreement of New York College with the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK in 1989, Ioannis Kapodistrias (building 3), founder of the public education system of Greece in 1828-1831, and Eleni Paparrigopoulou (building 4), first President of the historical Association for Education of Young Women, which took the initiative (as of 1872) to build and operate the complex as a professional school, that was founded on December 11, 1878 in the presence of King George I, Queen Olga and ministers of the Greek Goverment.

Part of the traditional courtyard of NYC Athens Campus (photo 3). The National Garden (photo 4) and the Zappeion Park (photo 5), opposite NYC Athens Campus, are popular recreation areas for the students of New York College.

The Greco-Roman Temple of Zeus opposite NYC Athens Campus, as well as Acropolis in the background (photo 6). The sports facilities of the historic National Gymnastic Association or “Ethinkos Gymnastikos Syllogos” (photos 7-8) —established in 1893, as a “center of sports and culture”, major benefactor of which was also Andreas Syngros— where the graduation ceremony of New York College takes place every year (photo 8) and where NYC students train and participate in sport competitions during the academic year (photo 7).

The two monumental landmarks, opposite the main entrance of NYC Athens Campus: Left (photo 9), the equestrian statue of Alexander the Great (at young age, riding Bucephalus), which was created in a 32-year period (1941-1973) by the prominent Greek sculptor and Academician Ioannis Pappas (1913-2005). Right (photo 10), the historical dialectical monument “HELLAS (CROWNS) BYRON”, in honor of Lord Byron, originally created by the French sculptors Michel A. Chapu (1833-1891) and Jean AJ Falguière (1831-1900 ) and completed by the Greek sculptor Lazaros Sohos (1859 -1911), by a donation by benefactor Dimitrios Stefanovikis Skylitsis. Three times a year, students and alumni of New York College (NYC) lay a wreath at each memorial, i.e. by members of NYC Student Union twice a year, at the beginning of each academic semester, and by representatives of NYC Alumni Union once a year, on the day of the official graduation ceremony of New York College, just before the award of the degrees by the American and European state universities that are affiliated with NYC.

NYC Athens Campus, at 38 Vas. Amalias Av. in the heart of Athens, is open 12 hours daily, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. NYC students have access there to the following offices and services: Office of the President, Office of the Rector, Academic Secretariat, Office of Academic Information and Registration, Office of Graduate Studies, the on-campus office of the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK - Empire State College, Office of Graduate Studies, Department of Sporting Activities, Office of Accounting Operations, Bursar Desk, Computer Center, Photocopying Center, International Student Office, Student Affairs Office, NYC Student Union Office, as well as our on-campus NYC Courtyard Cafeteria.

The access to NYC Athens Campus (38 Vas. Amalias Av.), is served by the METRO network (SYNTAGMA or ACROPOLIS metro stations), as well as by bus lines (SYNTAGMA or ZAPPEIO bus stops).

NYC Pythagoras Hall: The technological arm of NYC Athens Campus next to the ISAP Kallithea station!

(286 Thessalonikis Str., KALLITHEA)

The five-story modern building of New York College in Kallithea is named “NYC Pythagoras Hall” and constitutes the technological arm of NYC Athens Campus: The state-of-the-art Biomedical Lab,  the School of Maritime Studies and the School of Engineering & Informatics of the college are based in NYC Pythagoras Hall.

NYC Pythagoras Hall is located just three blocks away from ISAP Kallithea station, which is timewise equidistant (11 '- 14') to the port of Piraeus and Syntagma Square in Athens, i.e. 3 and 5 ISAP/metro stations away correspondingly.

The neighborhood of NYC Pythagoras Hall combines an educational, technological and  professional character: The Department of Informatics and Telematics and the Student Restaurant of HAROKOPIO UNIVERSITY operate at a very short distance (only 80 meters) from NYC Pythagoras Hall; the historic Sivitanidios Public School Of Trades & Vocations  has been an educational landmark in this area since 1927; the headquarters of private corporations and public organizations, like Information Society S.A. and the General Secretariat for Information Systems (GSIS) are located there too.

NYC Pythagoras Hall houses the central library of New York College, conference rooms, technological facilities —like Computer Lab, Biomedical Lab and Writing Center— and special classrooms with advanced audiovisual equipment. Spacious study areas and an in-house student cafeteria are popular with NYC students. Moreover, as of 2021, the NYC Student Union office will be based in NYC Pythagoras Hall.

  • NYC Athens Campus: A historic educational multi-building complex

  • NYC Athens Campus: Educational and cultural hub

 The emblematic multi-building complex, where New York College has been operating for the last 32 years, at 38 Vas. Amalias Av. in the heart of Athens, has a long history that is directly related to the history of the Greek state. The construction of the complex (1878-1879) is the result of the inspired initiative of the first Greek women's association, named Association for Education of Young Women, founded by 62 Athenian women in 1872—in a male-dominated era, when women in Greece did not have the right to vote or even to participate actively in public affairs—who shared  an ambitious vision: The education of financially underprivileged girls and young women, with emphasis to their professional training and employment, in line with the pertinent vision of Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Governor of Greece (1828-1831), who founded the first special schools for girls in the country.

That daring private initiative at the time, i.e. the goal of economic independence of needy unmarried women, was put under the auspices of Queen Olga of Greece. The initial endeavors of the Asscociation met with success, initially by concession of the plot that today spans the city block at 38 Vas. Amalias Av. to the Association by the Municipality of Athens, and thereafter by construction of the educational complex there by a generous monetary donation by Andreas Syngros, who was a major banker and philanthropist in the 19th century and is historically recognized ever since as “Great Benefactor” of Greece. The architectural plans were drawn up by Nikolaos Lysippos, who offered them kindly to the Association (without pay) and supervised their implementation for two years personally (also without pay).

As of Fall 1879, the newly-built first mansion of the complex at 38 Vas. Amalias Av. (today's “Syngros Hall”) housed the “Laboratory of Resourceless Women” of the Association, and later the “Hospital Training School”, whose graduates were the first to staff as nurses the newly built Evangelismos Hospital (1884), the first major hospital in Greece.

An important milestone in the history of the Association and the insurance system of the country was the establishment of “Pension Fund” by the Association for its employees in 1906, a pioneering accomplishment at the time, three decades before the first legislative and administrative attempts (1932-1934) for the establishment of the first state institution for social insurance (“Social Insurance Foundation” or “IKA”) as late as 1937.

During the Asia-Minor Catastrophe (1922-1923), the Association treated and hired 150 Greek refugees as workers. Right after WWII, during which the Association managed to survive despite extreme wartime circumstances of foreign occupation and deadly famine in Athens at the time, the multi-building complex housed the National History Museum temporarily before its final relocation to the Old Parliament building. In January 1946, the Association founded the “Middle Urban School” (which soon evolved into a model high school, renamed as the “44th High School at Plaka for female students” in this multi-building complex) and later founded the pioneering “Laboratory of Liberal Studies Andreas Syngros”. Since 1982, the mansion on 38 Vas. Sofias Av. has also shone at an artistic level: The actress Aliki Nor operated the “Pyli” (Gate) Theater there for four years. 

In sum, the Association has contributed positively to advancing the cause of work opportunities and political rights of women in Greece, as perhaps no other private Association, given that the timeless struggle of its highly-motivated members—in the midst of national, civil and world wars—was effective and successful through their leading example, their creative thinking, and their daring but always peaceful and nationally unifying initiatives.

Since 1990, the Association has entrusted this historic multi-building complex to the hands of Elias S. Foutsis, Hon. Ph.D., founder and President of New York College (NYC), for the operation of the college there, in collaboration with the American State University of New York (SUNY), in order for the two institutions “to offer the opportunity to mentally gifted but financially non-privileged students to have access to tertiary education at the highest international level”, as literally specified in the initial international agreement between NYC and SUNY—historically the first international academic-validation agreement in Greece and the Balkans (1989), i.e. a groundbreaking agreement that was a catalyst and a model for further development of the college sector in Southeastern Europe in the following decades. The building complex itself has been undergoing continuous development: This campus has changed, adapted, and modernized over the years, but always with due respect to and in line with the architecture and history of the site, so that today NYC students have the opportunity and privilege to attend academic classes in this educational complex as a timeless symbol of history that is part of the collective memory.

11. The Acropolis (left, up) and the front building (today's “Syngros Hall”) of the educational complex on 38 Vas. Amalias Av. (right, middle) in 1896: Photo probably taken on March 25, 1896 (old calendar), the first day of the first Olympic Games (1896) in modern history, from Panathinaiko Stadium. 12. Photo of schoolgirls and female students on campus (1902). 13. Great Benefactor Andreas Syngros. 14. Athens 1965 ca.: “Laboratory of Liberal Studies Andreas Syngros” under renovation (today's “Syngros Hall” of NYC Athens Campus); photo from the Photographic Archive of the National History Museum. 15. Athens 1941-1944, in front of the educational complex at the time of Nazi Occupation of Athens: Vas. Amalias Avenue, the tram (line 12 for Pagrati), the National Garden and in the background the Old Palace (today's Parliament of the Hellenic Republic) and Lycabettus Hill. 16. Athens, April 27, 1930, in front of the educational complex: a parade to the Acropolis on Vas. Amalias Avenue in celebration of the Centennial of the Greek Struggle of Independence. ERT TV Digital Archive.

The bust of Great Benefactor Andreas Syngros, donor and prime financier of the multi-building educational complex where NYC Athens Campus currently operates, adorns the traditional courtyard of the college.

More about the history of NYC Athens Campus can be found here.

NYC Athens Campus (38 Vas. Amalias Av., SYNTAGMA) has evolved into a pioneering world-class educational and cultural hub, in line with higher-education applied models of openness to society: Two interactive historical museums based in NYC Athens Campus are open to the public; furthermore, training seminars by scholars, lectures by prominent academics and politicians, as well as discussion sessions and structured debates according to ancient Greek democratic standards, take place periodically in NYC Athens Campus and are also open to the public with free participation.

 

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