The history of the Observatory starts in 1964 when a group of Dutch astronomers visited Greece, in order to examine the possibility of installing in Greece a small reflector telescope belonging to the Utrecht Observatory, which would be used by all the astronomers of all the astronomical institutions of the Netherlands.

The group which included Professor Adrian Blaauw and Dr. Jan Borgman of the Sterrenkundig Laboratorium Kapteyn in Groningen, Professor J. de Kort S.J chairman of the Catholic Univeristy of Nijmegen and Professor Anne B. Underhill of the Astronomical Observatory “Sonnenborgh” Utrecht, attended a meeting of the Greek National Committee for Astronomy in Athens, during which the existing climatological data for various places in Greece were examined. On the basis of these discussions it was decided to inverstigate more closely the regions of Corinthia and Argolis.

In spring 1964, the group of Dutch astronomers accompanied by Dr. Lysimachos N. Mavridis, who in February had been appointed Professor of Geodetic Astronomy and chairman of the Department of Geodetic Astronomy at the University of Thessaloniki and who also held the title of Director of the Reseach and Computing Center of the Academy of Athens, visited the area of the village of Stephanion for the first time.