Kyriakos Pittakis
Attribution:
archer10 (Dennis)
Kyriakos Pittakis
Greek archaeologist and first General Keeper of Antiquities
Kyriakos Pittakis dedicated his life to the preservation of Greek Antiquities.
His most important fait d'armes is very telling of his love for the story of his country: in 1821, when the Turks took control of the Acropolis and started taking it down to turn the lead clamps into bullets, he was among the Greek soldiers who chose to send bullets to the enemy rather than seeing the monument destroyed.
After preserving the Acropolis, he restored the Erechtheion, the temple on the North side of the Acropolis and the Lion Gate in Mycenae.
Despite being criticised for his lack of formal architectural or archaeological education, he was the first General Keeper of Antiquities.
