Konstantinos Zappas

Who was Konstantinos Zappas?

Konstantinos Zappas was a Greek entrepreneur and national benefactor. Together with his cousin Evangelis Zappas he played an essential role in the revival of the Olympic Games.

Zappas was born in 1814 in the village of Labova e Madhe, between Gjirokastër and Tepelenë, in today's Albania, then in the Ottoman Empire. After the death of Evangelis Zappas he became the executor of his cousin’s legacy and the ongoing revival of the Olympic Games. He was appointed manager of the Olympic Committee that organised the so-called Zappas Olympics, a Greek athletic festival held in 1859, 1870 and 1875 and forerunner of the modern international Olympics.

In 1881 he bought extended field areas in Thessaly and the following years contributed to the building of the Zappeion building in Athens, which was officially opened at 28 October 1888. Moreover, a number of Greek schools and educational facilities were built with his personal financial support; including the female schools in Constantinople, in his hometown Labovë, as well as in a number of towns in Epirus and Thessaly. Many students benefited from his scholarships for post graduate studies in Western Europe.