To the unknown volunteer nurse

In the early 1960s, Loukia Georganti, daughter and student of the sculptor Nikolaos Georgantis (1883-1947), created this sculpture, which has adorned the courtyard of the Ippokrateion Hospital since 1972. Both the work of art and its creator were awarded in 1965 in Paris by the Société des Artistes Français and, a few years later, with an honorary diploma from the Hellenic Red Cross. The marble sculpture depicts the compassionate and dedicated volunteer nurse in the typical uniform of the time, in a pose clearly symbolic of the patience and perseverance required by her work. The sculpture is a tribute to the self-denial of volunteer nurses in times of famine, war and natural disasters. Their selfless contribution is honoured symbolically with a brass laurel branch on the left of the sculpture, but also explicitly, since its title and the additional engraved inscription “Erected in their honour in 1972 by the Municipality of Athens “ leave no doubts about society's gratitude towards the volunteers.