Matsineia School

The Matsineia School, was built in 1863, with a donation of tobacco merchant and landowner, benefactor of the city, Michael Metaxas Mazzini. The people of Xanthi, in the spirit of solidarity and self-awareness that distinguished them during the period of the Ottoman Empire, created associations and promoted the education and training of young people, by all appropriate means. The result of this action is keeping the language and culture throughout the region of Thrace, during the rule of the Ottomans, despite other adverse conditions. The history of the school is reflected in marble inscriptions, at the main entrance, which were destroyed in 1942 by the Bulgarian rulers of the city and restored in 2005. In 1903, during the Ottoman sovereignty in the city, the building received its present form, after being renovated and inaugurated by the Greek Orthodox Community of Xanthi, as indicated by the second restored marble plaque on the frontage. Architectural description: This is a two-storey neoclassical building, with austere and imposing appearance and with an absolute symmetry of faces. Large openings in the windows of the floors provide ample lighting in the classrooms. Inside the ground floor there is a transverse corridor, at the end of which, there is a spacious, wooden staircase leading to the classrooms upstairs. The building has a spacious courtyard that communicates with the adjacent Nursery, building of other city benefactors, Panagiotis and Fotini Staliou. Over time: Originally, the building served as a Mutually Instructive School for Boys and then, as an Urban School for Boys. On the north side, where today is the courtyard of the School,a School for Girls was founded and operated but was demolished in 1972. Since 1920, it operates continuously, as the Matsineio Elementary School of the city. Today it is the First Primary School of Xanthi.