Ioannis Pangas (1814 – 1895)

Ioannis Pangas (1814 – 1895)

Born in Korytsa in Northern Epirus, he was a Greek businessman and national benefactor.

Following the Greek Revolution, as a young man he left home for Sterea Ellada, living first in Thebes and then Chalkida, soon though he set off for Alexandria in Egypt.

Through contacts with the Greek community there, he found work as a labourer and then as a tailor. The money he earned was all sent back to his family in Northern Epirus.

He would make his fortune first in Egypt and then in Moldavia and Wallachia, on the advice of Evangelos Zappas, in farming, agriculture and land cultivation and then in land ownership.

Returning to Athens, Pangas began to use his wealth for the betterment of Greek people and of the state. He paid for the construction of schools, other educational facilities such as libraries in his home town of Korytsa and also throughout Athens.

Structures built by him that would still be well known include the Alexander the Great Hotel in Athens as well as the nearby named after him “Μπάγκειον” building.

Unusual for a benefactor to do while still alive, in 1889, he gave away all his money, possessions and property portfolio, donating it all to the Greek State and in return, only asking for small monthly allowance for himself until his death in 1895.