The building housing the Cultural Centre of MIET in Patras is one of the oldest and most splendid mansions in King George I Square. Built in the late 1860s, its owner and first tenant was the notary Nikolaos Thomopoulos, father of Patras historian Stephanos Thomopoulos, and uncle of painter and academician Epameinondas Thomopoulos. Like the Apollo Theatre (Municipal Theatre), which was built in 1872, the Thomopoulos Mansion is assumed to be a work of the architect Ernst Ziller.

From 1870 until the end of the nineteenth century, King George I Square was the political and cultural centre of the city and is unofficially known as Thomopoulos Square, which name attests to the glory of the building and the prestige of the Thomopoulos family.

In 1890 the mansion was declared a listed building. It was renovated by the National Bank in 1994/1995, to house the branch of the National Bank of Greece in the ground floor. The Cultural Centre was inaugurated in November 1995, under the administration of Georgios Mirkos, with the exhibition "The Human Figure in Art". In 1997, under the administration of Theodoros Karatzas, the building was granted to MIET. In May of that year it hosted an exhibition of paintings and prints by Panayotis Tetsis.

The ambition and duty of MIET is to operate the Cultural Centre as a vital cell, attuned to the cultural and artistic life of the city.

Patras Cultural Centre

King George I Square & 262 Korinthou St.
Tel. 0030 2610 637 076