Lavrion Technological & Cultural Park – N.T.U.A
About
Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park (LTCP) of the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.) is a place with significant value for Greece and Europe. Ancient Greeks started mining and metallurgy in the Lavreotiki area around 3.000 BC.
During the 5th century BC, Lavrion used to be a large scale silver mining and metallurgy center, providing to the city of Athens the necessary wealth for its cultural development and military superiority. After several centuries of inactivity, during the end of 19th century a Greek mineralogist Andreas Kordelas and an Italian-French entrepreneur J.B. Serpieri revived the mining and metallurgical activities in Lavrion. The French Mining Company of Lavrion (FMCL) operated for more than a century (1875-1981). It was the first and biggest foreign investment in Greece and also driver of major technological advancements till it ceased operation.
The enterprise’s activity was a major contributor to the genesis of an industrial urban space, the town of Lavrio. This created a modern tradition for technical innovation, and an important national and European monument of industrial archeology.
N.T.U.A., having decided to preserve this heritage and tradition, has safeguarded a good part of the FMCL industrial complex and undertook the ambitious project to convert the former metallurgical site into a Technological Cultural Park and Museum of Technology. During the 2nd and 3rd Structural Framework Programs (EU and National funding) two major projects were undertaken by the LTCP and resulted to the restoration and rehabilitation of almost one third of the total building capacity and to the completion of the soil restoration for the park’s surrounding environment. Since 1998, when LTCP started its operations, more than 40 companies have been incubated in the park. Some of them grew and moved out successfully, some are still active in the park and some failed. Furthermore, NTUA’s research and educational activities, mainly those related to the broader area, are hosted in the LTCP.