Residence of Ioannis Zisis

Ioannis Zisis was born in 1852 in Polypotamos, Florina and died in 1955 in Florina. Both he and his family participated in the Macedonian Independense War and acted as an agent of the first order. From 1903 to 1909 he was a member of the Struggle Committee of the city of Florina, in charge of coordinating and directing the action of the messengers and guides of the guerrilla corps.
Ioannis Zisis bought about eight acres of land from various Turkish owners and within two years (1920-1922) he erected the two-storey building at 24 Pavlou Melas Street, with a floor area of about 300 square metres per floor.
For the purchase of the combined plots of land alone, he allocated 21,000 golden Greek drachmas.
On the first floor of the building he housed his family and on the second floor he settled the widow of his brother, the priest Papakonstantinou, murdered by the Vulgar Komitatzis during the Macedonian Independence War, and her two children, Anastasios -then Mayor- and Stephanos Papakonstantinou -Dogi.
In the year 1934 the Teacher’s College and Standard Primary School of Florina was housed.
In 1938, it housed the Gymnasium of Thileon . In 1940, when the Greek-Italian war was declared, it was requisitioned by the Army to house first troops and later a Military Hospital for the evacuation of wounded.
In July 1944 the building was bombed by Allied planes and was rebuilt in 1953.

TEXT: Ιοannis Zisis.