Date: 9 October 1831
Mnemon (Notary) of Akronafplia: Charalambos Papadopoulos
Rare Manuscripts Archive, National Library of Greece

Georgios Mavromichalis (1798 ή 1800 – 1831), son of Petrobey Mavromichalis, was a member of the revolutionary Friendly Society, a fighter in the Greek War of Independence, educated, multilingual and politically savvy. He was elected in 1827 to the National Assembly of Troizina. As President of the Vice-Governmental Committee he handed Ioannis Capodistrias, former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Tsar, his appointment as the first Governor of Greece. Yet, four years later, in Nafplion (then capital of the newly-created Greek State), on 27 September 1831 (acc. to the Julian Calendar), he assassinated Capodistrias, due to political motives (both Greek and foreign). He was incarcerated in Palamidi, the castle of Nafplion, and immediately sentenced to death by a Military Court. Shortly before his execution, at midnight, the Commandant of Palamidi allowed him to pray at the Castle’s Chapel of St. Andrew and write his last will and testament. The mnemon (notary) of Akronafplia Charalambos Papadopoulos along with two witnesses co-signed the will of Georgios Mavromichalis, which is one of the most important items of the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Greece.

In his will, among other provisions, Georgios Mavromichalis declared that out of gratitude towards the Commandant of Palamidi for the latter’s “benevolence” towards him in his final hours, he gifted him his ring; furthermore he commanded his wife to pay off all his debts and not remarry, so as to spare his daughter any mistreatment at the hands of her mother’s future husband.

The will “displays clarity of spirit, sobriety of thought, accuracy of memory and unparalleled composure of soul, qualities rare and remarkable for a man sentenced to death, whose sentence would be carried out almost immediately after writing it.” (“ESTIA” Newspaper, 1932).

Deed No.: 15.797
Date: 8 November 1842
Athens Notary: Kosmas Kokidis
General State Archives

Georgios Afthonidis, who was an official in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, constituted a dowry towards his son-in-law Constantine Paparrigopoulos, husband of his daughter Maria, before the Athens notary Kosmas Kokidis. The institution of dowry was abolished by Law No. 1329/1983.

Constantine Paparrigopoulos (1815-1891) is considered by modern historians as the “Father” of modern Greek Historiography. He was the founder of the theory of Greece’s historical continuity from Antiquity to the present via the Byzantium, which he considered as an important link between ancient and modern Hellenism.

Donation of Eleni Tositsa, wife of Michael Tositsas
Νο. 927
Date: 14 May 1860
Athens Notary:
General State Archives

A deed of donation of a plot of land from Eleni, wife of Michael Tositsas, to the Hellenic State, signed before the Athens notary Panagiotis Poulos. The donation was accepted by the then King Otto of the Hellenes, who in accordance with the laws in force at the time, issued a royal decree. On that particular site, the National Metsovio Technical University was erected at the expense of Eleni and Michael Tositsas, Nikolaos Stournaris and Georgios Averof.

Eleni Tositsa (1796-1866), the wife of the great national benefactor Michael Tositsas, was one of the 19th century female figures, who may now only be known in association with their illustrious husbands, yet became distinguished due to their dynamic presence and work. Like most women of that era, she did not receive any formal education, but nevertheless had a noteworthy and good upbringing. Her husband’s swift financial success coincided with the Greek Uprising. She organised a network for the buying and freeing of Greek captives from the Egyptian slave markets. Nobody ever suspected that the captive Greeks from the islands of Chios and Psara as well as other regions of rebel Greece had been liberated in Egypt by the wife of Michael Tositsas, an adviser to Viceroy Mehmet Ali. She also spent large amounts of money for orphaned Greek children. Following the death of her husband, and despite her being his fabulously rich heiress, she always lived moderately. She used her wealth in the execution of general utility projects and the foundation of girls’ schools for women’s education and universities for the further training of young Greeks. She bought plots of land of high monetary value and donated them to the newly-established and impoverished Greek State. On those plots, besides the aforementioned National Technical University, many other important establishments were built, such as the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the Orphanage of Queen Amalia, the buildings of the Educational Society (e.g. Arsakeio), again with the generous financial support of Eleni Tositsa.

No. 35583
Date: 14 October 1923
Athens notary: Konstantinos D. Ioannou
Archives of the Notaries Association of Athens, Piraeus, Aegean & Dodecanese

With the above deed well-known Greek musicians and composers founded the public limited company “HELLENIC CONSERVATOIRE S.A.” with the aim of offering musical education of the highest quality. The HELLENIC CONSERVATOIRE had already been established in Athens in 1919 by the well-known Greek classical composer Manolis Kalomiris, who remained its director even after it became a company. The HELLENIC CONSERVATOIRE opened branches throughout Athens, and also in cities all around Greece and Cyprus. Among its students it boasts world renowned violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and famous composer and conductor Prof. Theodore Antoniou, whereas the internationally acclaimed composer and conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos conducted its symphony orchestra before his move in 1937 to the United States.

No. 17827
Date: 26 November 1986
Athens Notary: Maria Poulantza-Agrevi

With the above deed the late Konstantinos Karamanlis, twice President of the Hellenic Republic and four times Prime Minister, deposited his handwritten will (sealed in an envelope) to the Athens notary Maria Poulantza-Agrevi. Konstantinos Karamanlis, a staunch supporter of the European Idea, applied for Greece’s Association with the European Economic Community in 1959, and signed the relevant Treaty in 1962, an event which became the first step towards the country’s full membership of the EEC in 1979, again during his premiership. He left the majority of his estate to the Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation, which founded the Constantine G. Karamanlis Chair in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Boston promoting Hellenic and European studies in the United States.