Damianos Kyriazis ( el, Δαμιανός Κυριαζής; 1890–1948) was a Greek

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

, collector, and benefactor from a

Kissos Kissos ( el, Κισσός) is a mountain village in the municipal unit of Mouresi, in the eastern part of Magnesia, Greece. It sits on the eastern slopes of the forested Pelion mountains, at about 500 meters elevation, 3 km from the Aegean S ...

family, in Mt

Pelion Pelion or Pelium (Modern el, Πήλιο, ''Pílio''; Ancient Greek/Katharevousa: Πήλιον, ''Pēlion'') is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in northern Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the ...

, who left a significant legacy of important historical documents.

Family

Damianos Kyriazis was the first-born son of Ioannis Kyriazis (1853–1919), one of five brothers from Kissos, Greece, who founded the cigarette empire Kyriazi Freres. His mother Maria (Marilita) Ritonides was from a rich ship-owner family. He had four sisters (Euterpi Kolas, Elena Aliveratos, Euthalia Naoum, Ioanna Leon Melas) and one brother (Costadinos). He was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, but grew up in

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, Greece, where he was first educated. Kyriazis married Angela Synnefia and had one daughter, Maria Kyriazis-Spenza. Damianos Kyriazis was a first cousin of Dr

Neoclis Kyriazis Neoklis Kyriazis ( el, Νεοκλής Κυριαζής; 1877 – August 1956) was a Cypriot medical doctor and historian known for his significant contributions to the history of Cyprus. He was a member of the National Council of Cyprus. Family N ...

, another collector of historical documents.

Career

He studied at the Universities of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and Zurich. While studying Politics in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

he also attended the Conservatory there from 1909 until 1911 to study piano playing wit
Karl Wendling
In 1914 (or 1916) Kyriazis was awarded a Diploma (PhD) in Politics and Law from the School of Philosophy in Leipzig. He returned to Greece and was employed as a senior director of the department of Industry at the Ministry of National Finance. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and in 1932 he briefly became Minister of Finance. One of his works was a study on ‘the development of handicraft in today’s Greece' (in German), but he wrote several other essays or books. Kyriazis was a member of several political, cultural and scientific organisations including local musical societies. He continued working at his family’s cigarette factories ( Kyriazi Freres) and, together with his brother Costadinos, opened custom-built factories in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. When he became a Finance Minister of Greece he relinquished his position at the Kyriazi Freres board.

Collections and donations

Kyriazis was an avid collector of books and manuscripts relating to the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. He donated many of his possessions to the National Archaeological Museum of Greece. A large number of his books and manuscripts were donated to the Damianos Kyriazis wing of the

Benaki Museum The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, is housed in the Benakis family mansion in downtown Athens, Greece. The museum houses Greek works of art from the prehistorical to the ...

in Athens. Another donation to the Gennadeion Library included important papers of

Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina. People * Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406) * Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...

, 41 rare manuscripts, 860 books and others. Certain items from this collection were displayed in New York City and at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London. In addition, in his will he left funds for the construction of the Public Library in Volos, where he also left substantial numbers of his book and document collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyriazis Damianos 1890 births 1948 deaths Greek philanthropists People from Volos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Members of the Hellenic Parliament Government ministers of Greece 20th-century philanthropists