The Academy of Athens is the country’s highest research establishment. The main building was designed in 1859 by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen. The magnate Simon Sinas provided the necessary funds. The cornerstone was laid in 1859, but Sinas refused to finance the project after the ousting of King Otto in 1862. He changed his mind a few years later, and the building was completed in 1885. The Greek neoclassical sculptor Leonidas Drosis created the pediment sculptures that depict the birth of the goddess Athena. He also made the figures of Athena and Apollo on the Academy's flanking pillars and designed the seated marble figures of Plato and Socrates. Since the Academy did not yet exist, the building housed the Numismatic Museum and the Byzantine Museum. The Academy was established in 1926.