On 22 May 2026, the Swiss Centre for Culture, Research and Diplomacy was officially inaugurated in Athens, marking a new chapter in the longstanding relationship between Greece and Switzerland.
Opened by Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, the Centre brings together, for the first time under one roof, the Embassy of Switzerland in Greece, the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) and the cultural foundation Flux Laboratory.
By uniting diplomacy, academic research and culture within a shared institutional setting, the Centre creates a lasting space for dialogue, intellectual exchange and international collaboration.
As part of this significant initiative, the Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation supported the acquisition and preparation of the Swiss School of Archaeology’s new headquarters in Athens, contributing to a wider collective effort involving donors, institutional partners and individuals committed to the project’s long-term success.
This support reflects the Foundation’s enduring commitment to historical and archaeological research, education and institutions capable of generating lasting academic, cultural and social value. It also builds upon the Foundation’s wider engagement with scholarship and the advancement of historical studies.
A Permanent Home for Knowledge
The Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece is Switzerland’s only permanent archaeological mission abroad. For more than six decades, it has played an important role in archaeological and historical research, while contributing to the study, preservation and understanding of Greece’s cultural heritage.
Since 1964, Swiss archaeologists have conducted systematic research in Eretria in close collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture. Over the years, the School has also developed research activity in other parts of Greece, while providing students, early-career scholars and researchers from Swiss universities with valuable opportunities to participate in archaeological fieldwork and academic programmes.
Its new headquarters in Athens represent far more than a functional improvement. They provide the School with a permanent and outward-looking institutional home: a place where research can meet education, where historical knowledge can inform contemporary dialogue, and where the academic communities of Greece and Switzerland can work together with continuity, ambition and purpose.
Supporting Institutions with a Lasting Purpose
For the Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation, supporting an initiative of this nature extends beyond the provision of a building or the establishment of new headquarters.
It is about helping to create the conditions in which knowledge can be produced, preserved and passed on to future generations. It is about supporting institutions that serve as bridges between countries, academic communities and cultures. Above all, it is about enabling organisations of enduring significance to plan their future on firm and sustainable foundations.
The Foundation expresses its sincere appreciation to the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, as well as to the donors, institutional partners and individuals whose collective efforts made this project possible.
The true value of philanthropy lies not in the attention it attracts, but in what it enables others to achieve — and in the lasting work it allows to continue.
