Akritas Primary School (Bufi) (1908)

The oldest inhabitants of the village recount that the community decided in 1907 – due to the increase of the population and the needs for housing the students – to build a new school building and for this reason they turned to the well-known master builder Bran (who had also built the church of Agios Nikolaos in 1872).
The plan provided for the construction of a two-storey building with a total of eight classrooms, teachers’ offices and bedrooms, auxiliary rooms in the basement, etc., with the prospect of accommodating 800 to 1,000 pupils. Construction of the school began in May 1908 with a crew of 40 men and the contribution of the villagers and was completed in 1910, at a total cost of £3,200.
In its final form, in addition to the classrooms, there was a large function room to the east, and on the outside there was a balcony over the main entrance door.
Its morphological features have strong classicist influences, with an emphasis on the main axis of symmetry and a rhythmic repetition of the openings on either side of the entrances, which are crowned with circular decorative lintels. All these architectural and morphological peculiarities, combined with the uniqueness of the building in the region, led the Ministry of Macedonia – Thrace to designate it as a reserved building in 2000. 

SOURCES OF PHOTOS: Archive of the Municipality of Florina