Jean-Gabriel Eynard

Jean-Gabriel Eynard was a Swiss Banker and a remarkable philhellene. He was awarded the title of National Benefactor of the Greek nation and was a pioneer photographer.He was born in Lyon, France on the 28th of December 1775 although his family was accepted in the aristocratic circles of Geneva since 1686. He initially moved to Genoa in Italy where he made a fortune and built a magnificent mansion that today is the City Hall. On 1814 he took part in the Congress of Vienna, a conference of ambassadors of the European states chaired by Metternich. The objective of the Congress was to resolve the matters arising from the Napoleonic Wars, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the dissolution of the Roman Empire. During this convention he had the chance to meet with Kapodistrias.

Inspired by Kapodistrias he was introduced in the movement of philhellenism and during the Greek War of Independence he dedicated significant financial funds in favor of the Greek Cause and repeatedly intervened in European diplomacy to promote Greek rights. After the assassination of Kapodistrias he showed great personal interest in the assembly of the Greek National Economy and contributed decisively to the foundation of The National Bank of Greece becoming the first honorary director.

In 1847 after continuous pressure from the British government for the return of the loan offered to Greece earlier on 1832 he personally paid half a million golden franks to assure them.In the mean time after the invention of the daguerreotype, the first photographic process in 1839, he became a photographer. He took most of his daguerreotypes between 1842 and 1863, taking mostly pictures of his family, sceneries and many self portraits. In his honor The National Bank of Greece has named “Eynard Hall” the building that houses the “Educational Foundation” in Athens city center. A road in Athens has also been named after him.