Damianos Kyriazis: Difference between revisions

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).<ref>Kyriazis Family Archives, Larnaca, Cyprus</ref> He was born in [[Cairo]], but grew up in [[Volos]], 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 Damianos Kyriazis was a first cousin of Dr [[Neoclis Kyriazis]], another collector of historical documents.

Kyriazis was an avid collector of books and manuscripts relating to the [[Balkans]]. He donated many of his possessions to the National Archaeological Museum of Greece. However, aA large number of his books and manuscripts were donated to the Damianos Kyriazis wing of the [[Benaki Museum]] in Athens. Another donation to the Gennadeion Library included important papers of [[Ali Pasha of Ioannina|Ali Pasha]], 41 rare manuscripts, 860 books and others. Certain items from this collection were displayed in New York City and at the [[Victoria & Albert Museum]] in London.<ref>http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/GLnewssummer2008.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.laikilibrary.gr/index.htm |title=Λαϊκη Βιβλιοθηκη Βολου |access-date=2014-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828233527/http://www.laikilibrary.gr/index.htm |archive-date=2012-08-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>