Son of

Scarlat Callimachi Scarlat Callimachi or Calimachi (; nicknamed ''Prinţul Roşu'', "the Red Prince"; September 20, 1896 – June 2, 1975) was a Romanian journalist, essayist, futurist poet, trade unionist, and communist activist, a member of the Callimachi fa ...

, Alexandru Callimachi or Alexandros Kallimachis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Καλλιμάχης) fled

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

with his mother and other members of his family in 1821, at the time of his father's death. The family sought refuge in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, where Alexander finished his studies, at the

University of Kyiv Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

. After traveling through

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, he made his way to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1829, where his family possessions and titles were restored to him. He entered the service of the Ottoman administration, first serving as attache and later as counselor to Rashid Pasha, the Ottoman ambassador to Paris at the time. In 1848 he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and then, a year later, to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

under the same title. In 1850 he was appointed

Prince of Samos The Principality of Samos ( el, Ηγεμονία της Σάμου, ; ota, Sisam İmâreti, script=Latn, italic=yes; tr, Sisam Beyliği) was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire from 1834 to 1912. The island of Samos participated ...

, a position which he never accepted personally, choosing rather to administer the island through the offices of a delegate, Georgios Konemenos. Though his rule was resisted by some of the islanders, he is known for having founded the constitutional political system of the Principality. That consisted of the separation of the divided the legislative, executive and judicial powers. He also advanced the educational system, establishing four Greek schools and twenty two elementary schools, and also established a system of courts as well as a printing house. In 1853 he retired to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

but was recalled in 1855 was appointed ambassador to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, a position which he was only able to assume after having played an important part in the Istanbul conferences on the re-organization of the Danubian principalities. For his services, in June 1861, Kallimachis was granted the Ottoman title of Bala, the first Christian to have been conferred that honor.

Sources

*Nita Dan Danielescu. "Gavriil Callimachi, ctitorul Catedralei mitropolitane Sf. Gheorghe din Iasi" ''Ziarul Lumina,'' 2006-02-20 *

Thompson Cooper Thompson Cooper (8 January 1837, Cambridge – 5 March 1904, London) was an English journalist, man of letters, and compiler of reference works. He became a specialist in biographical information, and is noted as the most prolific contributor to t ...

. ''Men of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries.'' p. 201; G. Routledge and sons, London, New York, 1875 *The History of Samo

Princes of Samos 19th-century Romanian people People from the Ottoman Empire of Romanian descent Ambassadors of the Ottoman Empire to Austria Alexandros Year of death missing Year of birth missing 19th-century rulers in Europe 19th-century Greek people {{Romania-bio-stub