On the occasion of World Archives Day, we revisit three images of Athens that capture different moments in its history: a 1930 photograph of the city by Nikos Zografos (view of Amalias Avenue at the height of the Arch of Hadrian), a handwritten receipt from Zografos’ photography studio dated 1929 and signed by him, and a snapshot from the liberation of Athens in 1944, depicting the major demonstration of October 12, immediately after the withdrawal of the German occupation forces.
This post is dedicated to the M. G. Tsangaris Photographic Collection, a unique body of photographic material spanning approximately 130 years. It includes works by some of the earliest Greek and foreign, professional and amateur photographers. The collection covers a wide range of themes, such as modern Greek history, life in old Athens, Greeks of the diaspora, political and cultural events, landscapes and antiquities, as well as portraits of individuals and families.
The collection was assembled by Michalis G. Tsangaris (1950–2020), who was born in Long Island and lived in the United States, Japan and Greece. From the early 1970s onwards, he developed a strong interest in photography, building and preserving an important archive of visual material documenting modern Greek history. The collection was donated to the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in 2020.
