Eleni Tositsa (1796 – 1 April 1866; ) was a major benefactor to cultural and educational establishments in Greece, including the National Archaeological Museum and the

National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; , ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, a university in Athens, Greece. It is named in honor of its benefactors Nikolaos Stournaris, Eleni Tosi ...

. Eleni Tositsa was born in

Metsovo Metsovo (; ) is a town in Epirus (region), Epirus, in the mountains of Pindus in northern Greece, between Ioannina to the west and Meteora to the east. The largest centre of Aromanians, Aromanian (Vlach) life in Greece, Metsovo is a large regio ...

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

, in 1796. She married Michael Tositsas in 1818 and moved with him first to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in 1820 and then to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in 1854. During the Greek revolution, she organised the buying and freeing of enslaved Greeks from Egyptian slave markets. After her husband's death in 1855, she inherited most of his property, which he instructed in his will should be used to benefit the Greek state. Tositsa donated large sums of this money to various schools, including funding a new building for the Educational Society's girls' school (known as the Tositseion), and founding a girls' school in her hometown of

, and to Queen Amalia's Orphanage. On 14 May 1860, she donated a plot of land to the Hellenic State to provide a site for the National Metsovio Technical University, also known as the National Technical University of Athens or the Polytechnic; the university transferred to this site on Patission Street in 1871. The name 'Metsovio' refers to the town of

, the hometown of Eleni Tositsa and Michael Tositsas as well as two other benefactors, Nikolaos Stournaris and Georgios Averof. The National Archaeological Museum, which was originally located in

Aegina Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. ...

, was transferred to Athens when this city became the capital in 1834; construction of a purpose-built building began in 1866 after Tositsa donated the plot of land on which the museum is now located, and the building opened to the public in 1889. The street which runs between the museum and the National Technical University is now named Tositsa Street (Οδός Τοσίτσα). She died on April 1, 1866, in

References

External links

Biography of Eleni Tositsa from the 'Notaries of Europe' exhibition

Deed donating land for the construction of the National Technical University

'Eleni Tositsa and the Tositseion'
(in Greek) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tositsa, Eleni 1796 births 1866 deaths 19th-century Greek women 19th-century Greek philanthropists Greek philanthropists Greek women philanthropists Patrons of schools People from Metsovo 19th-century women philanthropists