Christakis Zografos was an Ottoman Greek banker, benefactor and one of the distinguished personalities of the Greek community of Constantinople.
Early years-Career
Zografos was born in the village of Qestorat in southern Albania, when the region was under Ottoman rule. He attended the Zosimaia School in Ioannina and then went to Istanbul to join his father's business there. He was initially a co-partner in a small money changing stand at Galata. During 1854-1881, Christakis became one of the major creditors of the Ottoman state. Zografos became one of the leading banker and financiers and president of the Ottoman capital's trolley company. He was awarded by three sultans and sat on the Imperial Board of Estimate and served as president of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Clerico-Lay Advisory Board. Because of the social status he acquired among the society of the Ottoman capital he was widely known as Christakis Effendi.
Benefaction
Christakis Zografos donated huge fortunes and lavishly endowed educational and other community facilities to the Greek communities living in regions that belonged, at that time, to the Ottoman Empire. He offered an enormous amount of money for the erection of middle level schools in Constantinople, the one in the district of Beyoğlu in Constantinople and the other a female school in Yeniköy on the Bosporus, both schools were called 'Zografeion' after him. Moreover, sponsored the rebuilding of a Greek library in the city. At the Universities of Munich and Paris he made a 1,000 Franc endowment for awards in the fields of Greek literature and history. In his home place in Epirus he founded a male and femaleteachers college where the graduates became Greek language teachers. Zografos offered on annual base scholarships to 60 assiduous students that came from poor families, with complete coverage of their living costs. Other grants went to the Patriarchate's Halki seminary on Heybeliada, while he was awarded with the Gold Cross of the Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim II. His son Georgios Christakis-Zografos became a notable diplomat, politician and head of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
Legacy
During the Communist regime in Albania, Zografos and his son G. Christakis-Zografos, were stigmatised as 'enemies of the state'. Anyone from his home town who held the name 'Zografos', was therefore persecuted. After 1992 however, the situation has changed. Today, the Zografeio school in Qestorati, founded by himself, has been renovated and has reopened as a museum. He is also known as being Sultan Murad V's personal jeweller. Upon the dethroning and successful coup against Sultan AbdulAziz, Zografos efendi was entrusted with Sultan Abdulaziz's collection of fine jewellery, as it was assumed it would not fetch its value in Istanbul Zografos was sent to France whereit was believed the jewellery would be sold for its real value. Zografos never returned to Istanbul.
