Athens University of Fine Arts

athens university of fine arts

The Athens University of Fine Arts has evolved from a small nucleus established in 1837 known either as the Polytechnic or the School for the Arts. In 1843 the School for the Arts was organized into three divisions under a single director:

* First: a part-time school providing supplementary education to craftsmen
* Second: a full-time school for young people intending to work as industrial craftsmen
* Third: a full-time higher educational school for teaching the fine arts.

The third division of the school, which taught subjects such as painting, sculpture, architecture, lithography, woodcutting, geometry and cartography, was called The School of Fine Art and was the real ancestor of today’s Athens School of Fine Arts. It was the predominant branch of the School for the Arts from 1844 and 1862.
The school’s second division, called the University of Industrial Arts, developed into the Technical University, which, since 1863, has become a very important factor in Greece’s industrial development.
In 1910 the school of Fine Art was separated from the Technical University and provided with its own director. Finally, in 1930, the school was renamed the Athens University of Fine Arts and established as an independent institution.

The goals of the Athens University of Fine Arts are:

a. To provide theoretical and practical education in the fine arts and promote contemporary art.
b. To encourage the artistic sensibility of the public by organizing exhibitions of Greek and foreign artists.
c. To train art education teachers for secondary schools.