Two-seater desk

The Didaskaleion of Crete in Heraklion had in its possession a number of visual aiding teaching materials (visual material and school equipment) that were used during its educational function. These materials constituted an important part of the movable property of the institution, as it can be seen from the official correspondence of the Didaskaleion. This material and equipment are divided into the following categories: a. School pictures. b. School maps. c. Embroidery of the Didaskaleion. d. School furniture. e. Various items of collections and school equipment. f. Photographs of students and teaching staff. f. Aiding material for natural science courses. g. Stationery. As early as 1830, Ioannis Kokkonis (1795-1864) in the "Handbook for Co-teaching Schools" describes the specifications "about those located in the middle of the classroom". Later, in 1880 Spyridon Moraitis (1845-1915), in his "Didaskaliki" describes the type of desks or "pedestals" of students in a co-teaching class. In 1889 the legal engineer D. Kallias, following the French "Regulation" (Règlement) of 1880, determined the types of school desks. This is how the decree of December 4, 1898 "On the regulation of the dimensions of the desks manufactured in public primary and private schools", F.E.K., no. 10/ 20-01-1899, No. A was issued. The Didaskaleion of Crete in Heraklion had a lot of school furniture, among which the school desks held an important role. Many of these came from the Standard Primary schools, which were attached to the Didaskaleion. In the archival material that has been saved, 35 school desks can be found. 29 of them are two-seaters and 6 three-seaters. This particular desk belonged to the "Two-seater desks" category. It is wooden. It consists of the following parts: a) the surface (lectern, green color), which has a slight slope and a small groove to place the writing material there, b) the book holder board (brown color), where the notebooks and books were placed, c) the seat (brown color) and d) the footrest (brown color).