In 1911, the Teaching School was relocated to today’s 8th Primary School of Heraklion building. It was a two-story building with a courtyard at Taxiarchou Markopoulou Street (former Apezanon Monastery). It was built during the Ottoman occupation in Crete in 1840 for a Christian hospital and belonged to the Christian Orthodox community. This building suffered serious damage due to the devastating earthquake of June 26, 1926, as evidenced by a document from the Prefecture, where the responsible civil engineer points out the need to repair the extensive damages.
In 1933-34, the first Pedagogical Academy of Heraklion was also housed in the same building, as by Law 5804/1934, the Teacher Schools were upgraded to Pedagogical Academies because they were considered insufficient for the training of teachers. The ground floor of the building was brick-built and there was a teacher's office, physics and chemistry laboratories, as well as a library. On the upper floor, which was stone-built, there were five classrooms, with a total area of 210 square meters, while in another room (42 sq. meters) the Single Class and Four Class Standard Elementary School operated.
The building during the German occupation was enforced and used for the gathering of captives. - "In the execution of command no. 63583, I have the responsibility to report that as a consequence of the air bombardment in the past month of May, the teaching quarters of the Pedagogical Academy suffered considerable damage and therefore it was not possible to register students and start classes on time.
A Loyal Citizen
The Director”
