Zarifeios Pedagogical Academy

Impressive architecturally as well as emblematic for the intellectual role it has played for a century in Alexandroupolis and Thrace, the building of the Zarifeios Pedagogical Academy dominates Independence Square. The neoclassical building, built in 1923, retains its pedagogical character, today housing the 1st Experimental Primary School of Alexandroupolis. It has three floors, with a characteristic semi-submerged ground floor.

It was the only higher intellectual institution in Western Thrace until 1947 and continued to operate as a Pedagogical Academy until 1968, when the Academies were abolished. Receiving the support of the national benefactor Georgios Zarifis, a merchant from Constantinople, both politically to be selected as one of only six Pedagogical Academies in Greece, and financially during the years of its operation, it received its name. The same happened with the street that runs in front of the Academy, while in the garden there is a marble bust of Georgios Zarifi, sculpted by the great Nikos Perantinos.