Hristaki Zoğrafos

Christakis Zografos
Portrait of Christakis Zografos
Born	1820 Qestorat, Ottoman Empire (now in Albania)
Died	August 19, 1898(1898-08-19) (aged 77) Paris, France
Nationality	Greek ethnicity, Ottoman citizen
Occupation	Banker
Known for	Benefaction

Christakis Zografos (Greek: Χρηστάκης Ζωγράφος; Turkish: Hristaki Zoğrafos; 1820 – 19 August 1898) was a Greek banker holding Ottoman citizenship, benefactor and one of the distinguished personalities of the Greek community of Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

Zografos was born in the village of Qestorat in southern Albania (Northern Epirus), when the region was under Ottoman rule. He attended the Zosimaia School in Ioannina and then went to Istanbul to join his father's business there. He was initially a co-partner in a small money changing stand at Galata. During 1854-1881, Christakis became one of the major creditors of the Ottoman state. Zografos became one of the leading banker and financiers and president of the Ottoman capital's trolley company. He was awarded by three sultans and sat on the Imperial Board of Estimate and served as president of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Clerico-Lay Advisory Board. Because of the social status he acquired among the society of the Ottoman capital he was widely known as Christakis Effendi (Lord Christakis).

Christakis Zografos donated huge fortunes and lavishly endowed educational and other community facilities to the Greek communities living in regions that belonged, at that time, to the Ottoman empire.

He offered an enormous amount of money for the erection of middle level schools in Constantinople, the one (Zographeion Lyceum) in the district of Beyoğlu (Pera) in Constantinople and the other a female school in Yeniköy on the Bosporus, both schools were called 'Zografeion' after him. Moreover, sponsored the rebuilding of a Greek library in the city. At the Universities of Munich and Paris he made an 1,000 Franc endowment for awards in the fields of Greek literature and history.