Simon Sinas Explained
| Simon Sinas |
| Birth Date: | 15 August 1810 |
| Birth Place: | Vienna, Austrian Empire |
| Death Date: | 15 April 1876 |
| Death Place: | Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Nationality: | Austrian, Greek |
| Known For: | Benefaction and Diplomacy |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
|
Simon von Sina or Simon Sinas (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Σίμων Σίνας; 1810–1876) was an Austrian-Greek banker, aristocrat, benefactor and diplomat. He was one of the most important benefactors of the Greek nation together with his father Georgios Sinas.[1]
Biography
Simon Sinas was born on August 15, 1810, in Vienna. The Sinas family came from the Aromanian settlement of Moscopole in southern Albania.[2] The son of Georgios Sinas, also a benefactor and diplomat, Sinas expanded his father's business. His ethnic origin has been described as Aromanian,[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Hellenized Aromanian,[8] or Greek.[9] [10] Regardless of his ethnic origin, Sinas was part of the social-cultural Greek merchant class which maintained close relations with the newly founded Greek state of his era. He served as Greek consul in Vienna, and later as minister to Austria, the Kingdom of Bavaria, and Germany. He also made major donations to various educational and scientific foundations in Austria, Hungary, and Greece. During his time as Greek ambassador in Vienna, Johann Strauss II composed the Hellenen-Polka (Hellenes Polka) op. 203, at Simon's request, in 1856, for an annual ball of the ethnic Greek community in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[11]
Sinas became director of Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank and established the Simon Georg Sina banking house in Vienna. Following the end of the Second Schleswig War (or German-Danish War) in 1864, he funded the return transport of Austrian forces from the region of Schleswig-Holstein. From 1874 onwards, Sinas held a position in the Herrenhaus of Austria.
Sinas was the donator and founder of the Hungarian Academy of Budapest, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Vienna, the Athens Orthodox Cathedral, the Athens Academy, and others. His father had made the foundation of the National Observatory of Athens possible.[12] Since Sinas was also a patron of astronomers, the crater Sinas on the Moon was named after him. Sinas died in Vienna on April 15, 1876.
References
Sources
Further reading
Notes and References
- Vakalopoulos . Konstantinos . Die kulturpolitische und wirtschaftliche Rolle der griechischen Diaspora im Donauraum während des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts . Wirtschafts- und Kulturbeziehung Zwischen dem Donau- und Balkanraum Seit dem Wiener Kongress . 1991 . 144 . 28 September 2021 . Das Institut . de . Georgios und Simon Sina zeichneten sich als große Wohltäter der griechischen Nation aus. Ihnen ist die Wiederherstellung des Observatoriums und der Akademie in Athen zu verdanken..
- Chatziioannou . Maria . Mediterranean Pathways of Greek Merchants to Victorian England . The Historical Review . 2010 . 7 . 218 . The success of the migrant-entrepreneur is not only illustrated by such impressive careers as the Rothschilds of Jewish background, or, in the Greek case, that of S. Sinas in Vienna, originally from the Vlach-populated Moschopolis, or A. Syngros and the Ralli brothers from Chios, but can be identified in strategic choices of medium-sized merchants as well.
- Aromanians in Greece: Minority or Vlach-speaking Greeks?. Thede. Kahl. Thede Kahl. Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas. 5. 205–219. 2003.
- Jovanovski . Dalibor . Minov . Nikola . Ioannis Kolettis: The Vlach from the ruling elite of Greece . Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et Studia . 2017 . 24 . 222 . 10.14746/bp.2017.24.13 . free .
- The ethnicity of Aromanians after 1990: the identity of a minority that behaves like a majority. Thede. Kahl. Ethnologia Balkanica. 6. 145–169. 2002.
- Book: Özkırımlı . Umut . Sofos . Spyros . Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey . 2008 . Hurst . 978-1850659051 . 146 .
- Bogdan. Gheorghe. 1992. MEMORY, IDENTITY, TYPOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RECONSTRUCTION OF VLACH ETHNOHISTORY . 162. Ph.D. University of British Columbia.
- Book: Richard Clogg. A Concise History of Greece. registration. 20 June 2002. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-00479-4. p. 77: "a Hellenised Vlach whose family came from Moschopolis in southern Albania...".
- Book: Berend . Ivan . Berend . Tibor Iván . An Economic History of Nineteenth-Century Europe: Diversity and Industrialization . 2013 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-03070-1 . 173 . en . One of the leading financiers was the Greek banker Georg Simon Sina..
- Book: Gill, John. Athens. 2011. Andrews UK Limited. 978-1-908493-48-4. 47. en. The expatriate Greek millionaire Baron Simon Sinas, then living in Vienna, [...].
- Web site: Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 1999-06-04. 2021-09-28. Human Rights Watch.
- Web site: Η Ίδρυση του Αστεροσκοπείου Αθηνών. 2013. Εθνικόν Αστεροσκοπείον Αθηνών. Greek.
