The Old Chemistry Laboratory

For more than a century the Chemistry Laboratory and the laboratories of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Athens occupied this historic building on Solonos Street. Built between 1887 and 1890 from designs by the famous architect Ziller, the original building comprised a basement, ground floor and the first floor.

After a destructive fire in 1911 that required extensive repairs, the amphitheatre was built, followed later by the addition of the third floor. The teaching podium, the seats, and the laboratories in this historic building have seen most of the great scientists of modern Greece.

On October 12, 1944, the day Athens was liberated from German occupation the experimental radio station of the Physics Laboratory was the first station to transmit the news of freedom. The historic building has since been restored with a donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and now houses the Law School Library (inaugurated in 2017) as well as renovated amphitheatres and event spaces (2022), while the University of Athens Museum of Science and Technology is being reinstalled there.

Image source: https://hub.uoa.gr/en/