Konstantinos Zappas (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζάππας; 1814–1892) was a Greek entrepreneur and national benefactor who together with his cousin, Evangelos Zappas, played an essential role in the revival of the Olympic Games.[1][2]
Zappas was born in 1814 in the village of Labova e Madhe, between Gjirokastër and Tepelenë (modern Albania), then in the Ottoman Empire.[3] He was of Greek[1][4]orAromanian descent.[5][6][7][8][9] 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 the forerunner of the modern international Olympics.
In 1881, after the annexationofThessaly to Greece, he bought extended estates there and the following years contributed to the building of the Zappeion building in Athens, which was officially opened on 28 October 1888. A number of Greek schools and educational facilities were built with his personal financial support including the female schools in Constantinople,[10] in his hometown Labovë, as well as in a number of towns in Epirus (Tepelene, Delvine) and Thessaly. Many students benefited from his scholarship for post-graduate studies in Western Europe (mostly in the scientific field of agriculture).
Zappas died in 1892 in Mantes-la-Jolie, France. After his death, the Romanian government seized all of his assets and capital that were still in Romania causing a noted international law case at that time;[11] his cousin, Evangelis Zappas, was often incorrectly cited as his brother. There was also land and money in Greece that Konstantinos left to the Greek government. Baron Pierre de Coubertin together with A. Mercatis, a close friend of Konstantinos, encouraged the Greek government to put in some of that legacy to fund the 1896 Athens Olympic Games in addition to the legacy of Evangelis Zappas.[12]
The statues of Konstantinos and his cousin Evangelis Zappas are situated in front of the Zappeion.
^Sfetas, Spyridon (2003). "Το ιστορικό πλαίσιο των ελληνο-ρουμανικών πολιτικών σχέσεων (1866-1913)". Makedonika (in Greek). 33. Εταιρεια Μακεδονικων Σπουδων.: 33. Όταν το 1892 πέθανε και ο Κωνσταντίνος Ζάππας, η ελληνική πρεσβεία του Βουκουρεστίου διεκδίκησε την ακίνητη περιουσία του,... A family named Zappa, of Greek origin, settled in Romania, amassed a considerable fortune in trade,...
^Pericles Smerlas (1999). About Greece. Some of the biggest national benefactors and personalities of the Greek history belong to Vlach families, like Pavlos Melas, Evangelos and Konstantinos Zappas, Stefanos and Ion.
^Ioannis Kaphetzopoulos (2000). The struggle for Northern Epirus. Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate. p. 21. ISBN9789607897404. Kolletes and Spyridon Lampros were Vlachs. So were the great national benefactors George Averoff, Nicolaos Stournares, Tositsas, Sinas, Evangelos and Konstantinos Zappas...
^Kahl, Thede (2003). "Aromanians in Greece: Minority or Vlach-speaking Greeks?". Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas. 5: 213. Indeed, the list of examples of Aromanians in Greek history is quite impressive: [...] Konstantinos Zappas (1814-1892, endowed the Zappeion Hall and the surrounding gardens)
^Chatzēphōtēs, Iōannēs M. (2002). Hē kathēmerinē zōē tōn Hellēnōn stēn Tourkokratia (in Greek). p. 167. Από τους Βλάχους αναδείχθηκαν επιφανείς μορφές του Ελληνισμού όπως: [...] Γ. Αβέρωφ Γ. Αρσάκης, Στέργιος Δούμπας, Ευάγγελος και Κων. Ζάππας, Χρ. Ζαλοκώστας, Γεώργιος και Χρηστάκης.
^Young 1992, p. 183: "When E. Zappas' cousin, executor, and heir, Konstantinos Zappas died in 1892, the Romanian government froze the Romanian holdings, and there was a celebrated legal uproar."
Martens, Fedor Fedorovich (1893). Memoire sur le conflit entre la Grece et la Roumanie concernant l'affaire Zappa (in French). Athens.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
1 Includes localities with a substantial ethnic Greek population, or otherwise with any kind of cultural or other type of significance, historical or current, for the Greek minority in Albania. 2 Includes individuals not necessarily of Greek ethnicity but with important contributions to Greek civilization.
